OUR 
FIGHTERS 


JNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 


3  182202510  1247 


FIT 


JNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORN  A.  SAN  D  EGO 


3  182202510  1247 


KEEPING 
OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 


Wi-ll  known    ti-niii.i   players    L'I\"IU   .lackics   at    Mart*    Islaml   H   few 

pointers 


KEEPING 
OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

FOR  WAR  AND  AFTER 

BY 
EDWARD  FRANK  ALLEN 


WRITTEN  WITH  THE  COOPERATION  OF 

RAYMOND  B.  FOSDICK 

Chairman  of  the  War  and  Navy  Departments 
Commissions  on  Training  Camp  Activities 


WITH  A  SPECIAL  STATEMENT 
WRITTEN  FOR  THE  BOOK  BY 

WOODROW  WILSON 


NEW  YORK 

THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1918 


Copyright,  1918,  by 
THE  CENTUBY  Co. 


Published,  May,  1918 


SPECIAL  STATEMENT 

The  twin  Commissions  on  Training  Camp 
Activities — one  for  the  War  Department  and 
one  for  the  Navy  Department — were  appointed 
by  Secretary  Baker  and  Secretary  Daniels 
early  in  the  war  to  link  together  in  a  compre- 
hensive organization,  under  official  sanction,  all 
the  agencies,  private  and  public,  which  could  be 
utilized  to  surround  our  troops  with  a  healthy 
and  cheerful  environment.  The  Federal  Gov- 
ernment has  pledged  its  word  that  as  far  as 
care  and  vigilance  can  accomplish  the  result, 
the  men  committed  to  its  charge  will  be  re- 
turned to  the  homes  and  communities  that  so 
generously  gave  them  with  no  scars  except 
those  won  in  honorable  conflict.  The  career  to 
which  we  are  calling  our  young  men  in  the  de- 
fense of  democracy  must  be  made  an  asset  to 
them,  not  only  in  strengthened  and  more  virile 
bodies  as  a  result  of  physical  training,  not  only 
in  minds  deepened  and  enriched  by  participa- 
tion in  a  great,  heroic  enterprise,  but  in  the  en- 
hanced spiritual  values  which  come  from  a  full 
life  lived  well  and  wholesomely. 

I  do  not  believe  it  an  exaggeration  to  say  that 


SPECIAL  STATEMENT 

no  army  ever  before  assembled  has  had  more 
conscientious  and  painstaking  thought  given  to 
the  protection  and  stimulation  of  its  mental, 
moral  and  physical  manhood.  Every  endeavor 
has  been  made  to  surround  the  men,  both  here 
and  abroad,  with  the  kind  of  environment  which 
a  democracy  owes  to  those  who  fight  in  its  be- 
half. In  this  work  the  Commissions  on  Train- 
ing Camp  Activities  have  represented  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  government's  solicitude  that 
the  moral  and  spiritual  resources  of  the  nation 
should  be  mobilized  behind  the  troops.  The 
country  is  to  be  congratulated  upon  the  fine 
spirit  with  which  organizations  and  groups  of 
many  kinds,  some  of  them  of  national  standing, 
have  harnessed  themselves  together  under  the 
leadership  of  the  government's  agency  in  a 
common  ministry  to  the  men  of  the  army  and 
navy. 


The  White  House, 
Washington. 
April  19th,  1918. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OP  A  PURPOSE  ...       3 
II    CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS  ...     18 

III  ATHLETICS — EDUCATIONAL    AND    RECREA- 

TIVE       ............     40 

IV  THE  FIGHTERS  WHO  SING 64 

V    WHAT  THEY  READ — AND  WHY     .     .     .84 

VI    ENTERTAINMENT  IN  CAMP 103 

VII  HOSTESS  HOUSES  .     .     .     .;..".     .     .     .  Ill 

VIII  THE  POST  EXCHANGE    .     .     .     .     .     .138 

IX  EDUCATIONAL  WORK  IN  CAMP  ....  156 

X  FITTING  THE  MAN  TO  THE  COMMUNITY    .  169 

XI  A  PROBLEM  AS  OLD  AS  TIME  ITSELF    .     .  191 

XII  CONCLUSION                                   .     .     .  206 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Well-known  tennis  players  giving  Jaek- 

ies  at  Mare  Island  a  few  pointers     .  Frontispiece 

Some  of  the  most  noted  fighters  in  the  country  are 
serving  Uncle  Sam  as  boxing  instructors  .  .  9 

Boxing  drill  is  an  important  part  of  the  fighters' 
training 10 

Receiving  stationery  and  free  materials  at  the 
Army  Y.  M.  C.  A.  counter,  Camp  MacArthur, 
Waco,  Texas 27 

A  friendly  bout  in  one  of  the  barracks  at  Camp 
Grant,  111 28 

The  high  jump  at  Camp  Upton,  Long  Island     .  45 

Training  to  come  to  grips  with  the  Hun    ...  46 

Volley  ball  is  a  popular  sport  at  all  the  camps    .  59 

Winter  sports  at  Camp  Grant,  Rockford,  111.     .  60 

The  song  leader  conducting  a  big  ''sing"  at  the 
Great  Lakes  Naval  Training  Station  ...  77 

!A  regimental  "sing"  at  Camp  Wadsworth, 
Spartanburg,  S.  C v.  .  .  78 

Camp  Library  at  Camp  Lewis,  Wash 87 

Camp  Library  at  Camp  Sherman,  Chillicothe, 
Ohio  .  88 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAOI 

Special  cases  for  the  shipment  of  books  to  our 
men  overseas 97 

The  Sailors'  Club  at  Coddington  Point,  Newport, 
K.  1 98 

A  corner  of  the  living  room,  Y.  W.  C.  A.  Hostess 
House,  Camp  Devens,  Ayer,  Mass 119 

The  living  room,  large  but  homelike,  in  the  Y.  W. 
C.  A.  Hostess  House,  Camp  Lewis,  American 
Lake,  Wash 120 

On  the  veranda  of  the  Hostess  House  at  Camp 
Upton,  Long  Island 133 

An  evening  with  the  Victrola,  Y.  W.  C.  A.  Hostess 
House,  Camp  Gordon,  Atlanta,  Ga 134 

Class  in  elementary  English  at  an  Army  Y.  M. 
C.  A 159 

A  class  in  trigonometry  at  Camp  MacArthur, 
Waco,  Texas 160 

Pool  rooms  are  part  of  the  equipment  of  Service 
Clubs  for  the  men  in  uniform ISf) 

An  entertainment  by  home  talent  in  the  Y.  M.  C. 
A.  tent  at  Pelhain  Bay,  N.  Y.  .  .  .  .  .  186 


KEEPING 
OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 


KEEPING 
OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  DEVELOPMENT    OF   A   PURPOSE 

IT  was  hot  down  on  the  Mexican  border  in 
the  summer  of  1916,  hot  all  along  the.  line, 
from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  westward  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  There  was  every  kind  and  'degree  of 
heat,  from  the  enervating,  tropical  humidity 
that  prostrates,  to  the  blast-furnace  waves  that 
roll  off  the  cactus  plains,  causing  the  skin  to  dry 
like  parchment  and  the  eyes  to  burn  in  their 
sockets.  Few  of  the  soldiers  mobilized  there 
were  used  to  it. 

If  you  know  the  border  towns,  you  do  not 
need  to  be  told  that  it  was  dull,  too.  The  col- 
lection of  square-fronted,  one-storied  buildings 

3 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

and  the  drab  adobe  huts  provided  little  in  the 
way  of  entertainment.  Even  with  the  possibil- 
ity of  a  brush  with  the  Mexicans,  it  was  dull. 
Several  thousand  men  were  seeing  the  same 
faces  and  doing  the  same  things  every  day,  and 
they  were  bored.  There  was  nowhere  to  go  for 
any  sort  of  decent  diversion  in  their  "off"  time. 
Columbus,  New  Mexico,  had  none  of  the  attrac- 
tions to  which  most  of  these  men  had  been  ac- 
customed ;  there  was  no  movie  show,  no  library, 
no  club  room  for  lounging,  no  organized  enter- 
tainment of  any  kind  for  the  men.  The  condi- 
tions were  practically  the  same  in  Laredo  and 
Brownsville,  Texas,  and  in  Douglas,  Arizona. 
There  was  not  even  a  place  where  a  man  could 
go  and  write  a  letter. 

There  was  an  ingrowing  staleness  all  along 
the  border.  Men  were  hoping  that  Pancho 
Villa  would  happen  by  just  to  liven  things  up ; 
anything  would  suffice  for  a  change.  But  the 
soldiers  just  waited,  with  nothing  to  do  outside 
of  their  military  routine.  Reading  matter  was 
at  a  premium,  and  the  soldiers  begged  for  worn- 
out  magazines  from  travelers.  There  was  no 

4 


THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   A   PURPOSE 

ice-water,  and  on  the  trains  that  passed  through 
the  coaches  had  to  be  locked  because  thirsty 
soldiers  would  go  aboard  and  raid  the  water- 
coolers. 

And  so,  when  they  had  any  free  time,  many 
naturally  gravitated  to  the  saloons  and  partook 
of  their  unchallenged  hospitality.  Liquor 
meant  relaxation,  relief  from  ennui;  it  was 
served  where  there  was  something  doing;  it 
spelled  variety.  The  saloon  and  the  "red 
light"  district  held  an  uncontested  monopoly 
on  the  entertainment,  and  it  was  not  an  uncom- 
mon thing  to  see  drunken  men  in  uniform. 

The  idea  of  eliminating  these  factors  had  not 
seemed  to  occur  to  the  commanding  officers; 
they  were  part  and  parcel  of  army  life,  among 
the  accepted  concomitants  of  warfare.  When 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  first 
came  into  the  field  there  was  a  noticeable  im- 
provement on  the  border,  but  the  conditions 
were  considered  inevitable.  This  was  the  situ- 
ation when  Raymond  B.  Fosdick  was  sent  as  a 
special  agent  of  the  War  Department  to  study 
the  problem  of  the  soldiers '  environment.  The 

5 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

great  need  was  for  something  wholesome  to 
compete  with  the  only  forms  of  diversion  to 
which  the  men  had  access,  and  out  of  this  need 
grew  the  plan  of  the  Commission  on  Training 
Camp  Activities. 

When  the  United  States  was  about  to  enter 
the  war  with  Germany,  Secretary  Baker  said  to 
Mr.  Fosdick,  "I  want  an  organization  that  will 
link  together  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Recreation 
Association,  and  every  other  agency  that  can 
contribute  to  the  social  well-being  of  troops  in 
the  field,  an  organization  that  will  itself  supply 
any  gaps  in  the  program."  This  was  in  April, 
1917,  in  the  interim  between  the  President's 
war  message  and  the  actual  declaration  of  war 
against  Germany  by  Congress.  Secretary 
Baker  had  in  mind  the  predicament  of  our  boys 
in  the  border  towns,  how  for  want  of  something 
better  to  do  they  were  led  into  unwholesome 
diversions.  "This  time,"  said  Mr.  Baker, 
"they  will  not  be  volunteers;  they  will  be 
drafted  into  service.  We  cannot  afford  to  draft 
thorn  into  a  demoralizing  environment.  It  must 
be  assured  that  their  surroundings  in  the  camps 

6 


THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   A   PUEPOSE 

are  not  allowed  to  be  less  stimulating  and 
worthy  than  the  environment  in  their  home 
communities." 

Such  was  the  task  that  led  to  the  appointment 
of  the  War  Department  Commission  on  Train- 
ing Camp  Activities  and,  later,  the  Navy  De- 
partment Commission  on  Training  Camp  Activ- 
ities. It  marked  the  beginning  of  an  epoch. 
For  the  first  time  in  history  a  government 
looked  beyond  the  machinery  of  fighting  to  the 
personal  and  moral  welfare  of  the  fighters. 

Keeping  in  mind  the  Mexican  border  in  191.6, 
let  us  see  what  parallels  are  presented  by  the 
training  camps  of  to-day.  They  are  abnormal 
communities  in  a  number  of  ways.  Among 
their  average  population  of  40,000  there  are  no 
women  or  children ;  there  is  no  home  life.  The 
men  are  necessarily  abnormal.  They  are  cut 
loose  from  accustomed  relationships ;  they  have 
left  their  families,  homes,  and  friends;  their 
colleges,  clubs,  and  church  gatherings  are  no 
more;  their  dances,  town  libraries,  athletic 
fields,  theaters,  and  movie-houses  are  left  be- 
hind; and  they  have  entered  a  strange,  new 

7 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

life  in  which  everything  is  subordinated  to  the 
task  of  creating  an  efficient  fighting  force. 

Are  men  better  soldiers  for  going  without  the 
above  things!  The  judgment  of  commanding 
officers  for  ages  past  has  apparently  answered 
in  the  affirmative.  To  be  sure,  Napoleon  said 
that  a  fighting  army  is  a  contented  army,  but  it 
remained  for  the  United  States  Government  to 
apply  the  theory  to  practice.  May  not  idleness, 
homesickness,  weariness,  and  monotony  dull  the 
edge  of  the  best  war-machine  that  time  and  pa- 
tience can  produce?  Is  it  not  obvious  that  any 
attempt  to  rationalize,  as  far  as  it  can  be  done, 
the  abnormal  environment  of  a  war  camp  is  an 
attempt  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  troops  ? 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  am  thinking  of  this  thing 
as  an  established  conclusion  and  not  as  a  hy- 
pothesis, for  the  practical  application  is  being 
made  to-day  by  the  Commissions  on  Training 
Camp  Activities. 

Their  function  is  to  keep  the  men  of  the  army 
and  navy  fit  for  fighting,  first,  by  keeping  them 
physically  well,  and  second,  by  keeping  them 
contented,  interested.  These  two  purposes  are 

8 


THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   A   PURPOSE 

closely  interrelated,  and  so,  largely,  are  the 
measures  by  which  they  are  accomplished.  The 
plan  itself  has  many  ramifications,  and  it  is 
only  when  one  understands  these  that  an  ade- 
quate conception  may  be  had  of  the  magnitude 
of  the  undertaking. 

The  work  of  the  Commissions  embraces  two 
sets  of  forces,  one  of  which  competes  with  the 
twin  evils  of  alcohol  and  prostitution  and  one 
which  aims  to  suppress  them.  A  cardinal  prin- 
ciple of  their  policy  is  that  concentration  on 
the  former  lightens  the  necessity  for  the  latter. 
Among  the  former  are  the  agencies  that,  al- 
ready in  existence,  have  been  accorded  official 
recognition  and  placed  under  the  supervision  of 
the  Commissions.  The  club  life  of  the  canton- 
ment, for  instance,  is  in  the  capable  hands  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  and  similar  organiza- 
tions. With  its  wide  experience  in  army  and 
navy  work,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  was  particularly 
well  equipped  to  furnish  recreational  and  social 
facilities  within  the  camps,  and  it  has  made  good 
use  of  the  money  that  was  privately  subscribed 

11 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

for  the  purpose.  In  each  of  the  National  Army 
cantonments  there  are  from  nine  to  fourteen 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings,  and  a  somewhat  smaller 
number  in  each  of  the  camps  of  the  National 
Guard.  The  Knights  of  Columbus  organiza- 
tion has  fewer  buildings  in  each  camp,  but  it  is 
well  represented  and  its  functions  are  practi- 
cally the  same  as  those  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  No 
meetings  are  held  in  any  of  these  buildings  to 
which  all  the  troops  in  camp  are  not  invited, 
regardless  of  religious  or  other  preferences. 
Indeed,  the  admission  of  such  organizations  to 
the  camps  was  on  the  express  condition  that 
their  activities  must  not  be  limited  to  any  par- 
ticular constituency;  and  from  the  first  there 
has  been  a  broad  spirit  of  cooperation  among 
them. 

Another  important  work  among  those  coordi- 
nated by  the  Commissions  is  that  of  the  Amer- 
ican Library  Association,  to  which  has  been 
delegated  the  task  of  solving  the  problem  of  the 
soldiers'  and  sailors'  reading-matter.  This 
efficient  organization  is  seeing  to  it  that  there 
is  always  a  good  book  within  the  reach  of  the 

12 


THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   A   PURPOSE 

fighting  men.  A  special  library  building  has 
been  planned  for  each  of  the  cantonments,  and 
at  this  writing  most  of  them  have  been  built  and 
are  in  operation.  These  are  in  charge  of 
trained  librarians. 

The  valuable  aid  of  the  Recreation  Associa- 
tion of  America  was  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  the 
soldier  and  sailor  on  leave.  Its  task  has  been 
to  organize  the  social  and  recreational  life  of  the 
communities  adjacent  to  the  training  camps  to 
provide  for  the  assimilation  of  men  in  uniform. 
It  has  placed  representatives  in  more  than  a 
hundred  such  communities  and  has  mobilized 
the  hospitality  of  churches,  clubs,  lodges,  and 
other  groups  and  organizations,  as  well  as  indi- 
viduals. In  a  word,  it  has  awakened  the  com- 
munities to  their  obligation  toward  the  fighting 
men  at  their  doors. 

These  are  some  of  the  agencies  whose  already 
organized  forces  were  aligned  by  the  Commis- 
sions. But  there  were  other  necessary  activities 
that  had  to  be  organized  by  the  Government  it- 
self. There  is  the  matter  of  athletics.  Less  for 
the  purpose  of  recreation  than  for  developing 

13 


KEEPING  OUE  FIGHTERS  FIT 

the  fighting  instinct  and  the  technic  of  fighting, 
yet  it  makes  for  mental  as  well  as  physical  fit- 
ness. Best  of  all,  it  promotes  that  "everlasting 
team-work"  which  will  be  so  great  a  factor  in 
winning  the  war.  The  Commissions  have  ap- 
pointed sports  directors,  who  now  have  military 
rank,  and  boxing  instructors;  and  athletics  is 
looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most  important  fac- 
tors in  the  training  that  prepares  men  to  go 
into  battle. 

The  Commissions  are  developing  mass  sing- 
ing in  the  army  and  navy.  It  is  their  purpose  to 
send  men  to  France  with  the  will  to  sing  and 
the  songs  to  sing.  The  camps  are  supplied  with 
song-leaders  whose  training  and  experience  fit 
them  to  direct  this  work,  and  no  one  phase  of 
the  activities  of  the  Commissions  carries  with 
it  more  inspiration,  either  for  participants  or 
directors.  Closely  allied  to  the  music  is  the 
dramatic  entertainment  that  is  being  furnished 
in  each  of  the  most  important  army  camps. 
Plays  of  the  best  type  are  produced  at  fully 
equipped  modern  theaters  with  a  seating  capac- 

14 


THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   A   PURPOSE 

ity  of  3000,  and  the  cost  to  the  soldiers  is  very 
low  indeed. 

Finally,  there  is  the  suppressive  side  of  the 
work,  as  opposed  to  the  competitive.  It  deals 
with  the  twin  evils  that  have  always  been  asso- 
ciated with  armies  and  training  camps.  Our 
"War  and  Navy  Departments  in  this  war  have 
taken  the  position  that  alcohol  and  the  prosti- 
tute must  be  kept  absolutely  away  from  the  sol- 
dier, and  where  the  forces  that  have  been  estab- 
lished to  take  the  place  of  the  things  they  are 
trying  to  eliminate  do  not  accomplish  their  pur- 
pose, then  the  Commissions  act  in  cooperation 
with  various  agencies  to  suppress  these  evils. 

Even  from  this  brief  outline  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  Government  has  planned  and  put  into 
execution  a  movement  whose  magnitude  and 
far-sightedness  are  one  with  its  novelty.  I 
heard  a  business  man,  who  considered  himself 
practical-minded,  however,  ask  what  the  idea 
was  in  pampering  the  fighting  man. 

"What  place  has  a  theater  in  a  training 
camp?"  he  asked.  "What  is  the  use  of  teach- 

15 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

ing  men  to  sing,  and  why  do  you  bother  with 
men's  morals,  as  long  as  they  obey  orders?" 

In  the  following  chapters  will  be  found  the 
reply  to  these  questions.  By  establishing  the 
Commissions  on  Training  Camp  Activities  our 
Government  has  set  a  new  standard  for  the 
world  to  follow  in  the  training  and  maintenance 
of  its  armies  and  navies.  It  has  also  set  a 
standard  for  industry,  and  even  at  this  early 
date  some  of  the  directors  of  the  large  concerns 
that  are  turning  out  munitions  of  war  have 
asked  the  Commissions  to  take  over  their  social 
problems  in  the  same  manner  as  they  are  han- 
dling those  of  the  army  and  navy.  They  see 
in  the  work  a  value  to  be  measured  in  dollars 
and  cents. 

But  there  is  one  big  purpose  behind  it  all: 
to  win  the  war.  It  will  be  won  by  man-power 
and  manhood,  and  the  activities  of  the  Commis- 
sions are  directed  toward  their  cultivation. 
Every  individual  who  does  his  or  her  part  to- 
ward conserving  these  vital  factors  is  striking 
a  blow  for  the  emancipation  of  the  world,  both 
now  and  in  the  future.  It  is  a  movement  for 

16 


THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   A  PURPOSE 

the  improvement  of  the  nation,  and  it  is  utterly 
devoid  of  sentimentality.  To  make  the  men  fit 
for  fighting,  and  after,  to  bring  them  back  from 
war  as  fine  and  as  clean  as  they  went,  is  just 
plain  efficiency. 


17 


CHAPTER  II 

CLUB   LIFE   IN    THE   CANTONMENTS 

THERE  is  something  undeniably  pictur- 
esque about  military  life.  Its  glamor  is 
akin  to  that  of  the  stage ;  it  looks  good  from  the 
front.  When  we  were  boys  we  played  soldier, 
strutted  around  in  improvised  uniforms  with 
weapons  of  heterogeneous  lineage,  and  perhaps 
bemoaned  our  fate  that  our  country  seemed 
likely  never  to  need  our  aid  in  fighting  her  bat- 
tles. The  pomp  and  pageantry  of  warfare  ap- 
peals to  the  elemental  in  youth,  in  all  of  us  as 
far  as  we  are  youthful.  The  rhythm  of  drums 
and  the  crash  of  martial  music  quicken  our 
pulses.  A  regiment  in  uniform,  bayonets  fixed, 
standards  whipping  in  the  breeze,  flags  waving, 
stirs  the  patriotism  of  every  man,  woman,  and 
child. 

This  is  as  it  should  be,  but  these  manifesta- 
18 


CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS 

tions  are  superficial  none  the  less.  Let  us  con- 
sider how  the  typical  soldier  spends  the  greater 
part  of  his  time,  day  in  and  day  out.  The  con- 
trast is  not  intended  to  be  disheartening,  but  is 
shown  for  the  purpose  of  giving  a  better  idea 
of  what  the  soldier  needs.  Eeveille  sounds  at 
5 :30  A.  M.  It  is  not  like  an  alarm-clock ;  there 
is  no  shutting  it  off  and  turning  over  for  an- 
other forty  winks.  As  it  ends  in  one  area  of 
the  camp,  it  is  taken  up  in  another,  and  is  re- 
peated until  its  last  insistent  tones  die  away  in 
the  distance.  At  seven  o'clock  the  soldier  sits 
down  to  the  first  meal  of  the  day,  and  at  7 :30 
he  arises.  From  then  until  a  quarter  of  twelve 
his  time  is  devoted  to  a  variety  of  occupations. 
He  may  drill  with  his  company,  he  may  dig 
trenches,  he  may  be  engaged  in  rifle  or  bomb- 
throwing  practice,  or  he  may  be  detailed  to 
guard  or  other  special  duty ;  but  in  any  case  his 
time  is  fully  occupied.  Fifteen  minutes  are 
then  allowed  for  ablutions  or  any  other  per- 
sonal needs  before  mess.  The  afternoon  is 
merely  a  variant  of  the  morning — hard,  invig- 
orating work  all  of  it.  He  stops  at  half-past 

19 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

five,  and  thereafter,  except  for  mess  or  any  spe- 
cial duty  to  which  he  may  be  assigned,  his  time 
is  free  until  taps.  In  some  camps  the  routine  is 
broken  on  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays,  when 
the  men  are  free  for  the  afternoon,  and  Sundays 
are  regular  holidays. 

Leisure  time  is  the  bugbear  of  the  man  away 
from  home.  A  successful  traveling  man  told 
me  that  if  it  were  not  for  Sunday,  his  work 
would  be  one  hundred  per  cent,  congenial.  A 
soldier's  predicament  is  even  more  of  a  prob- 
lem, for  with  no  more  leisure  time  than  the 
average  man,  he  is  much  more  restricted  in  his 
choice  of  diversions.  Too  often  he  has  been  in 
the  position  described  by  the  popular  song,  "All 
Dressed  Up  and  No  Place  to  Go." 

Within  the  camp  of  to-day,  however,  this  con- 
dition does  not  obtain.  The  fighting  man  may 
now  go  to  his  club. 

It  sounds  a  bit  revolutionary  to  speak  of 
"club  life"  in  the  army  and  navy  cantonments, 
but  it  is  one  of  the  outstanding  features  among 
the  many  which  the  Government  has  provided. 
In  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 

20 


CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS 

buildings  and  those  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus 
the  troops  have  gathering  places  that  furnish 
true  club  freedom  and  recreation.  They  are 
more  than  " places  to  go";  they  combine  a  defi- 
nite interest  with  a  distinct  personality.  As  an 
enlisted  man  said  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  "It  takes 
the  place  of  home. ' '  That,  perhaps,  is  the  high- 
est praise  that  it  has  received  from  the  ranks. 
It  is  also  an  index  to  the  unanimous  opinion  of 
these  clubs,  among  the  officers  as  well  as  the 
men. 

Their  informality  is  a  result  of  a  careful 
study  of  the  men's  requirements.  The  restric- 
tions are  few,  and  there  is  none  that  presents 
any  hardship.  The  men  smoke,  loaf,  write  let- 
ters, and  read  magazines;  they  see  excellent 
moving-pictures  and  other  entertainments,  they 
play  the  piano  and  phonograph,  and  find  the 
same  relaxation  and  good  fellowship  they  would 
similarly  obtain  in  their  home  town.  In  fact, 
many  of  these  men  are  enjoying  for  the  first 
time  the  intimate  association  and  comradeship 
of  club  life.  They  have  come  from  farms  and 
from  isolated  villages  in  which  there  are  no  such 

21 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

advantages,  and  they  will  return  to  their  homes 
with  a  broadened  horizon  and  a  set  of  social 
habits  from  whose  influence  they  can  never 
escape.  This  is  one  of  the  first  indications  of 
the  socially  constructive  side  of  the  work  done 
by  many  branches  of  the  Commissions. 

Parenthetically,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  other 
already  organized  agencies  working  for  the  sol- 
diers and  sailors  are  all  brought  together  in  the 
interests  of  good  team-work  by  the  Commis- 
sions, which  supply  the  necessary  cohesive  ele- 
ments between  them  to  prevent  the  duplication 
and  overlapping  of  work,  and  to  make  sure  that 
the  non-military  needs  of  the  troops,  both  within 
and  without  the  camps,  are  fully  and  amply  met. 
Each  constituent  organization,  however,  is  re- 
sponsible for  its  own  particular  field  and  admin- 
isters and  manages  the  interests  which  it  has 
developed.  These  organizations  existed  prior 
to  the  appointment  of  the  Commissions,  and 
they  are  working  in  and  about  the  camps  upon 
the  invitation  of  the  War  and  Navy  Depart- 
ments through  the  Commissions  because  of 
their  especial  skill  or  aptitude  for  the  particu- 

22 


CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS 

lar  line  of  activity  which  they  have  undertaken. 
As  far  as  possible  the  Commissions  are  meeting 
the  situation  through  agencies  of  this  kind. 
When,  however,  it  is  necessary  to  carry  on  a 
given  piece  of  work,  and  where  no  one  organiza- 
tion seems  adapted  to  the  purpose,  the  Commis- 
sions do  not  hesitate  to  assume  the  initiative  and 
responsibility. 

The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  has  been  on  the  ground  from 
the  first.  Before  the  camps  were  wholly  com- 
pleted they  had  their  headquarters  established 
in  tents  from  which  they  dispensed  good  cheer, 
information,  and  other  forms  of  assistance. 
One  of  their  representatives  accompanied  each 
of  the  troop-trains  that  carried  raw  recruits  to 
the  new  cantonments.  He  was  of  the  type 
known  as  a  "he  man."  Going  into  every  car, 
he  addressed  the  men  informally,  introducing 
himself  and  his  work  and  telling  them  what  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  stood  ready  to  do.  He  gave  them 
interesting  and  valuable  information  about  the 
camp  to  which  they  were  going,  and  told  them 
something  of  the  routine  they  would  have  to 
follow.  It  was  in  all  cases  a  heartening  talk. 

23 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

After  hearing  it,  the  men  realized  that  the  new 
life  on  which  they  were  entering  would  not  be 
simply  a  continuous  round  of  grinding  disci- 
pline without  any  contact  with  the  things  they 
had  been  used  to  at  home.  Here  was  ameliora- 
tion for  the  first  sharp  pangs  of  homesickness. 
There  are  at  this  writing  178  army  and  navy 
stations  at  which  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  operates  in 
nearly  600  buildings.  At  the  smallest  of  these 
stations  there  is  one  secretary,  with  a  tent  for 
headquarters ;  at  the  largest  there  are  fourteen 
buildings,  with  a  crew  of  secretaries  at  each. 
To  appreciate  the  problems  of  the  cantonments 
it  must  be  remembered  that  their  population  is 
that  of  fair-sized  cities,  in  some  cases  as  great 
as  50,000.  Many  of  them  have  from  25,000  to 
35,000  men.  Adequate  service  requires  that  the 
club  buildings  shall  be  distributed  so  as  to  be 
easy  of  access ;  it  also  requires  efficient  manage- 
ment, and,  what  is  even  more  important,  an  un- 
derstanding of  men.  When  you  take  into  con- 
sideration the  number  of  different  types,  racial 
and  personal,  who  meet  on  common  ground  at 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  K.  of  C.  buildings,  the  spirit 

24 


CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS 

that  pervades  them  and  the  smoothness  with 
which  the  work  progresses  are  remarkable. 

A  typical  bungalow,  as  the  buildings  are 
called,  presents  a  reassuring  picture  to  those 
who  have  feared  for  the  social  well-being  of  the 
boys  in  khaki.  There  is  usually  a  big  fireplace, 
where  on  cold  days  a  big  log  fire  crackles  cheer- 
fully. The  rocking-chairs  in  the  chimney-cor- 
ner are  occupied  by  men  with  books  and  maga- 
zines, and  there  is  a  pleasant  aroma  of  "cut 
plug"  burning  in  briar  pipes.  Toward  the  cen- 
ter of  the  room  a  victrola  is  pouring  forth  its 
soul  in  the  latest  ragtime  ditty,  or  perhaps  it  is 
a  grand  opera  selection,  and  at  the  desks  near 
the  windows  there  are  men  writing  letters. 
They  are  indefatigable  correspondents,  these 
fighting  men.  It  is  estimated  that  more  than  a 
million  letters  a  day  are  written  by  the  soldiers 
and  sailors  on  the  stationery  that  is  furnished 
free  by  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  one  of  the  many  indica- 
tions that  the  home  fires  are  kept  burning. 
They  get  their  stamps  from  one  of  the  secre- 
taries behind  the  desk,  and  mail  their  letters 
with  him.  From  the  same  desk  they  buy 

25 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

money-orders,  over  three  quarters  of  a  million 
dollars  a  month  in  the  aggregate.  This  same 
secretary  acts  as  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend, 
his  activities  in  the  latter  capacity  covering  a 
wide  range.  He  may  write  a  letter  for  an  illit- 
erate or  engage  in  an  impromptu  debate  with  a 
college  undergraduate  as  to  the  relative  merits 
of  Ibsen  and  Shaw ;  he  may  lead  a  Bible  class  or 
referee  a  boxing  bout.  He  must  be  a  good 
"mixer"  first  and  last,  but  his  gospel  of  the 
"glad  hand"  must  have  a  rock  foundation  of 
genuine  interest.  Paternalism  is  a  stranger  to 
this  work. 

Part  of  the  equipment  of  most  of  the  build- 
ings is  a  small  auditorium  where  events  such 
as  amateur  vaudeville  entertainments,  Bible 
classes,  movie  shows,  basketball  games,  song 
services  and  sparring  matches  take  place.  It  is 
the  aim  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  to  provide  some 
vehicle  by  which  every  man  may  find  a  means  of 
self-expression.  This  necessitates  finding  out 
in  what  field  his  capabilities  lie,  and  it  is  very 
skilfully  done.  One  of  the  means  to  that  end 
is  the  "stunt  night,"  when  an  extemporaneous 

26 


CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS 

vaudeville  show  is  arranged.  Among  its  by- 
products is  the  development  of  talent  for  more 
ambitious  productions,  but  its  chief  justification 
is  that  it  is  as  good  fun  as  * '  amateur  night ' '  at 
the  neighborhood  theater.  I  recall  one  occasion 
of  the  sort  at  a  southern  camp  that  brought  joy 
to  everyone  present,  including  myself. 

Two  negro  boys  were  putting  on  the  gloves 
as  I  entered.  Boxing  is  always  a  popular  phase 
of  these  shows.  The  master  of  ceremonies,  a 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary,  announced  from  the  plat- 
form: "Gentlemen,  I  take  pleasure  in  present- 
ing Knockout  Waite  and  One-Round  Hogan  in  a 
three-round  bout  of  two  minutes  each. ' '  There 
was  wild  applause  from  the  spectators.  Some- 
where behind  me  a  voice  said:  "If  the  little 
one  butts  the  other  in  the  stummick  with  his 
head— 0  boy!" 

The  bout  began  quietly,  too  quietly  in  fact, 
for  there  were  cries  of  "Aw,  mix  it  up,"  "Go 
get  him,"  and  the  like,  but  whether  those  col- 
ored boys  were  tired  after  a  strenuous  day,  or 
afraid  of  hurting  each  other,  they  stalled  and 
clinched  through  three  rounds  of  comedy  boxing 

29 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

that  Mr.  Frank  Tinney  could  hardly  equal.  A 
laugh  was  pulled  from  the  crowd  between  each 
round  when  another  negro,  acting  in  the  capac- 
ity of  trainer  to  both  the  fighters,  fanned  them 
vigorously  with  an  army  overcoat. 

Then  a  tenor  who  felt  himself  a  potential  John 
McCormack,  and  who  was  evidently  considered 
in  the  same  light  by  his  friends  in  the  audience, 
sang  "The  Sunshine  of  Your  Smile,"  "Where 
the  River  Shannon  Flows,"  and  "You  're  as 
Welcome  as  the  Flowers  in  May,"  and  at  the 
singer's  invitation  the  listeners  joined  in  the 
chorus.  Even  the  men  who  did  not  know  the 
words  hummed  the  tune,  and  there  was  real 
harmony.  As  a  sort  of  after-refrain  there  came 
murmurs  of  "Gimme  a  cigarette!"  from  the 
boys  in  the  hall ;  then  the  scratching  of  matches. 
It  was  the  most  interesting  audience  from  a 
racial  standpoint  that  I  had  ever  seen — a 
sprinkling  of  Jews,  a  few  Slavic  types,  negroes, 
some  Scandinavians,  and  a  pronounced  Gaelic 
element — raw  material  being  fused  in  the  cru- 
cible of  democracy.  I  also  saw  the  beginnings 

30 


CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS 

of  a  community  spirit  among  the  men,  most  of 
whom  would  not  recognize  it  by  name. 

Other  extemporaneous  numbers  figured  on 
the  program.  A  tall,  lanky  fellow  whistled 
"Listen  to  the  Mocking  Bird"  without  incur- 
ring the  wrath  of  his  fellows,  a  colored  lad 
played  ragtime  on  the  piano  so  that  every  foot 
was  set  to  tapping,  and  there  was  more  boxing. 
As  one  of  the  boys  remarked,  it  was  a  "large 
evening. ' ' 

The  occasion,  however,  was  not  unique. 
These  and  other  entertainments  are  being  held 
continually.  There  is  always  something  doing 
in  the  "Y"  buildings.  Three  times  a  week,  as 
a  general  rule,  there  are  movies — films  with  ac- 
tion, thrills,  and  just  enough  of  what  the  men 
call  "sob  stuff."  Your  fighting  man  has  a 
strong  vein  of  sentiment.  There  are  religious 
services  that  are  so  interesting  that  they  bring 
out  nearly  as  many  men  as  the  movies.  There 
are  illustrated  lectures  and  there  are  "sings." 
Every  evening  in  the  week  the  men  have  some- 
where to  go. 

31 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

In  the  larger  camps  there  is  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  au- 
ditorium seating  from  2000  to  3000  people.  It 
is  a  central  hall  for  the  big  Y.  M.  C.  A.  events, 
and  is  separate  from  the  "Liberty  Theaters" 
built  by  the  Commissions  on  Training  Camp  Ac- 
tivities. In  it  are  held  the  entertainments,  lec- 
tures, and  other  affairs  that  will  draw  men  from 
all  over  the  camp,  and,  like  every  other  "Y" 
building,  it  is  a  busy  place.  In  all  the  camps 
during  the  month  of  January,  1918,  the  total 
attendance  at  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  entertainments 
alone  was  3,253,838.  Except  in  a  few  rare  in- 
stances, no  admission  is  charged. 

The  matter  of  entertainments  may  rest  here, 
to  be  treated  more  at  length  in  another  chapter. 
The  subject  illustrates  a  phase  of  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
and  K.  of  C.  work  in  the  camps  that  helps  to 
show  their  atmosphere  and  influence. 

Parallel  activities  in  all  lines,  although  of  a 
narrower  scope,  are  engaged  in  by  the  Knights 
of  Columbus  and  the  Jewish  Board  of  Welfare. 
Both  of  these  hold  religious  services  in  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings,  and  there  is  a  harmonious 
relation  among  them  all.  No  discrimination  as 

32 


CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS 

to  color  or  creed  is  made  by  any  of  them;  the 
utmost  tolerance  is  observed  as  to  religious  con- 
victions. 

From  a  census  taken  at  one  of  the  canton- 
ments it  was  found  that  seventy-five  per  cent. 
of  the  soldiers  were  members  of  some  church. 
The  proportion  may  vary,  but  it  is  probable 
that  these  figures  represent  very  nearly  the 
average.  This  is  not  to  suggest  that  the  camps 
are  centers  of  smug  piety.  They  are  far  from 
puritanical.  In  the  Knights  of  Columbus  build- 
ings there  is  a  stage  at  one  end  of  the  club  room 
where  on  Saturday  evening  a  minstrel  show 
will  gather  a  crowd.  Mass  will  be  celebrated 
the  next  day  from  an  altar  at  the  back  of  the 
same  platform  that  at  other  times  is  concealed 
by  sliding  doors.  In  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings 
the  same  room  is  devoted  to  the  exponents  of 
the  Apostles '  Creed  and  the  Marquis  of  Queens- 
berry  rules,  often  one  and  the  same  man.  How 
does  it  work  out  ? 

I  had  a  long  talk  with  one  of  the  Knights  of 
Columbus  secretaries,  a  man  who  had  been  a 
newspaper  reporter  and  cartoonist  in  a  large 

33 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

city.  He  was  a  "live  wire."  He  had  seen  all 
sides  of  life  and  met  all  kinds  of  people.  He 
had  a  brand  of  slang  quite  his  own,  a  sense  of 
humor  to  match  it,  and  a  smile  that  could  n't  be 
eradicated.  Under  the  bed  in  his  combination 
private  office  and  bedroom  was  a  sizeable  cache 
of  cigarettes.  ' '  They  're  for  the  boys, ' '  he  said, 
"when  they  need  cheering  up."  He  told  me 
with  enthusiasm  of  the  infinite  variety  of  his 
work.  "I  teach  one  man  how  to  box  and  an- 
other how  to  dance.  Of  course  the  Commis- 
sion's boxing  instructor  gives  them  all  they 
really  need,  but  they  want  more.  I  make  up  a 
basketball  team,  if  it  lacks  one  player,  write 
a  letter  for  a  chap  who  may  be  a  little  short  on 
education,  cheer  up  the  downhearted,  or  pos- 
sibly coach  the  men  who  are  getting  up  a  show. 
We  gave  one  show  here  several  weeks  ago,  and 
there  was  some  real  talent.  The  amateurs  were 
good,  but  there  were  four  professional  vaude- 
villians  as  well.  Right  out  of  the  ranks,  too; 
you  'd  know  their  names  if  I  told  you.  "Well, 
one  of  them  came  to  me  after  a  rehearsal  and 
said,  'Mac,  I  haven't  been  to  church  for  about 

34 


CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS 

four  years,  and  I  want  to  get  back  in.  How  do 
I  go  about  it  I '  I  knew  well  enough  it  had  been 
nearer  fourteen  years,  but  I  did  n't  say  a  word. 
He  's  one  of  the  regulars  at  church  service 
now. ' ' 

The  Jewish  Welfare  Board  has  erected  fewer 
buildings  in  camps,  but  provides  social,  educa- 
tional and  religious  programs.  Even  where 
buildings  of  their  own  are  not  available,  the 
Jewish  element  never  lacks  places  for  religious 
observances,  large  or  small.  A  Jewish  soldier 
went  up  to  a  "Y"  secretary  at  Camp  Upton  one 
Sunday  morning. 

"My  father  has  come  to  see  me  and  wanted  to 
say  a  prayer  before  he  goes  back — if  you  could 
find  a  quiet  corner  somewhere?" 

The  building  was  crowded  with  a  noisy  flock 
of  soldiers  and  their  visitors  from  New  York, 
even  the  small  assembly  room  had  been  set 
aside  temporarily  as  a  rest  room  for  women. 
But  the  secretary  led  the  boy  and  his  father  to 
his  own  private  office,  and  shut  the  door  upon 
the  two. 

Personal  service  plays  a  large  part  in  the 
35 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

work  of  these  organizations.  At  one  of  the 
camps  not  long  ago  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary 
went  over  to  the  base  hospital  to  see  if  he  could 
do  anything  for  the  soldiers  there.  Three  of 
them  asked  him  to  do  errands,  and  in  fulfilling 
these  requests  the  secretary  cheerfully  walked 
eight  miles. 

A  Detroit  mother  heard  that  her  son  was  dy- 
ing of  smallpox  in  a  certain  camp.  She  had  not 
heard  from  him  in  some  time,  so  it  was  easy  for 
her  to  believe  such  a  wild  report.  Finally  she 
called  up  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  on  the  long  distance 
telephone,  and  inside  of  an  hour  received  a  defi- 
nite message  to  the  effect  that  her  boy  was  in 
excellent  health  and  had  neglected  to  write  home 
through  carelessness.  The  lad  wrote  a  letter 
that  evening. 

In  an  eastern  camp  one  of  the  secretaries  is 
a  man  whose  financial  rating  is  $40,000,000,  but 
none  of  the  soldiers  know  this  and  only  a  few  of 
his  associates.  His  wife  comes  each  day  to  the 
camp  and  maintains  a  headquarters  for  mend- 
ing. There  are  doubtless  many  similar  in- 
stances. I  know  of  one  other,  in  particular, 

36 


CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS 

where  a  millionaire  has  given  up  his  business 
and  gone  into  army  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work,  while  his 
wife  is  acting  as  a  volunteer  worker  in  the  Host- 
ess House  cafeteria.  These  people,  as  well  as 
those  who  require  the  small  stipend  that  goes 
with  their  positions,  have  taken  up  the  work  be- 
cause they  love  it.  For  it  is  not  a  loafing  job, 
and  there  is  no  glory  in  it,  but  there  is  satisfac- 
tion for  the  right  kind  of  man. 

The  camp  clubs  are  effectively  bridging  the 
gulf  that  lies  between  the  recruits  and  their 
environment.  By  giving  men  a  chance  to  ex- 
press themselves,  which  is  one  of  their  strong 
points,  they  help  to  preserve  their  moral  rela- 
tionship with  society.  Among  the  mediums  of 
self-expression  is  " Trench  and  Camp,"  the 
newspaper  in  which  is  chronicled  the  happen- 
ings of  the  week.  There  is  an  edition  for  each 
of  the  cantonments,  and  four  of  the  eight  pages 
are  local,  the  rest  being  of  general  interest  to 
soldiers.  The  men  are  invited  to  contribute  to 
the  columns,  and  some  of  the  articles  and  car- 
toons show  considerable  talent.  Out  at  Camp 
Kearney,  California,  an  amusing  incident  oc^ 

37 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

curred  when  the  newspaper  was  first  estab- 
lished. Boxes  were  put  up  in  each  of  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  buildings  and  placarded,  "Contributions 
received  here  for  *  Trench  and  Camp. '  When 
the  editor  made  his  rounds  the  next  day  in 
search  of  news,  he  found  in  one  box  a  dime,  a 
nickel,  and  two  cents ! 

The  magnitude  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  organiza- 
tion for  army  and  navy  camps  is  hardly  realized 
by  any  who  are  not  connected  with  it.  Its  work- 
ers in  this  country  and  overseas  number  5181. 
The  total  annual  business  done  in  its  canteens 
abroad  amounts  to  $5,000,000  a  month,  which,  I 
am  told,  is  bigger  than  that  of  the  company  that 
operates  America's  greatest  chain  of  five-and- 
ten-cent  stores.  It  is  also  the  largest  single 
consumer  of  moving-picture  films  in  this  coun- 
try. Over  five  hundred  machines  are  in  opera- 
tion in  the  cantonments  of  the  United  States,  all 
running  from  one  to  six  nights  a  week,  during 
which  time  between  4,000,000  and  5,000,000  feet 
of  film  are  shown. 

After  the  sinking  of  the  steamship  Kansan, 
which  included  in  its  cargo  supplies  for  the 

38 


CLUB  LIFE  IN  THE  CANTONMENTS 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  huts  abroad,  the  following  order 
was  received  at  headquarters:  "Send  20  tons 
plain  soap,  20  tons  condensed  milk,  10  tons  choc- 
olate, 5  tons  cocoa,  2  tons  tea,  5  tons  coffee,  5 
tons  vanilla  wafers,  50  tons  sugar,  20  tons  flour, 
2  tons  fruit  essences,  2  tons  lemonade  powder, 
120,000  Testaments,  120,000  hymn-books,  tons  of 
magazines  and  other  literature,  30  tons  writing- 
paper  and  envelopes,  50,000  folding  chairs,  500 
camp  cots,  2000  blankets,  20  typewriters,  60 
tents,  75  moving-picture  machines,  200  phono- 
graphs, 5000  records,  1  ton  ink  blotters,  $75,000 
worth  athletic  goods,  30  automobiles  and 
trucks."  And  the  order  was  filled  at  once. 

In  the  club  life  of  the  camps  efficient  business 
organization  goes  hand  in  hand  with  definite 
personal  service.  If  there  is  any  red  tape  in 
either  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  or  the  K.  of  C.,  it  does 
not  come  close  enough  to  the  soldier  and  sailors 
for  them  to  discern  the  color.  Organized 
friendship  is  a  success ;  it  makes  better  fighters. 


39 


CHAPTER  III 

ATHLETICS — EDUCATIONAL   AND    RECBEAT1VE 

THERE  are  over  a  million  men  systemat- 
ically engaged  in  athletic  activity  in  the 
military  training  camps  of  this  country,  and  the 
primary  purpose  of  it  all  is  to  educate  the  men 
to  be  better  fighting  organisms.  Incidentally, 
of  course,  there  is  recreational  value  to  athlet- 
ics. Indeed,  it  might  be  generalized  that  the 
aim  of  athletics  in  the  training  camps  here  is  to 
make  the  men  fit  to  fight,  while  "over  there"  it 
is  a  matter  of  keeping  them  fit  to  fight.  In 
France  and  on  the  foreign  seas,  where  the  career 
of  the  soldier  and  sailor  is  extremely  strenuous 
at  times  and  deadly  monotonous  at  others,  the 
recreational  value  of  sports  naturally  becomes 
more  important  than  the  training  value.  Men 
just  out  of  the  trenches  after  nerve-racking  days 
amid  flying  bullets  and  bursting  shells  turn  in- 

40 


EDUCATIONAL  AND  RECREATIVE 

stinctively  to  athletics  for  diversion.  But  at 
first  the  problem  is  distinctly  one  of  educating 
body  together  with  the  mind  along  lines  of  offen- 
sive fighting. 

Through  the  Commissions  on  Training  Camp 
Activities  the  Government  is  encouraging  and 
directing  athletics  in  more  than  thirty-five  army 
camps  and  half  as  many  naval  stations.  The 
department  of  athletic  work  for  the  army  is  or- 
ganized under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Joseph  E. 
Raycroft,  professor  of  hygiene  in  Princeton 
University,  and  the  responsibility  for  the  or- 
ganization and  conduct  of  the  work  in  each  camp 
is  delegated  to  carefully  selected  men  of  skill 
and  experience.  These  were  at  first  recognized 
as  civilian  aides  on  the  staffs  of  the  commanding 
officers,  and  their  salaries  were  paid  from  gov- 
ernment funds;  but  later  many  of  these  ath- 
letic directors  were  commissioned  as  officers  of 
the  regular  army.  There  is  close  cooperation 
between  them  and  the  athletic  representatives  of 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  Knights  of  Columbus 
who  are  working  in  the  camps.  Similarly,  Wal- 
ter Camp,  the  eminent  foot-ball  authority,  has 

41 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

charge  of  the  athletic  work  for  the  Navy  De- 
partment Commission  on  Training  Camp  Ac- 
tivities. 

It  is  a  big  work,  this  organizing  and  directing 
the  athletic  activities  of  forty  thousand  men, 
and  each  of  the  divisional  athletic  officers  has  a 
man's  size  job.  But  the  reactions  are  remark- 
able. Foot-ball,  base-ball,  basket-ball,  soccer, 
boxing,  track  and  field  athletics — in  fact,  nearly 
all  the  sports  known  to  Americans — are  in- 
dulged in  by  all  the  men  in  training.  Never  be- 
fore in  the  history  of  this  country  have  so  large 
a  number  of  men  engaged  in  athletics ;  never  be- 
fore has  its  physical  welfare  received  such  a 
stimulus.  Narrow-chested  clerks  are  making 
three-base  hits  on  the  same  base-ball  teams  with 
college  athletes,  and  lean-visaged  philosophers 
are  learning  how  to  use  their  fists.  The  book- 
keeper and  the  street-car  motorman  come  to 
grips  on  the  foot-ball  gridiron.  Men  are  learn- 
ing to  get  bumped,  and  not  to  mind  it.  The 
quality  of  persistence  is  being  developed. 
High  school  and  college  men  who  have  played 
upon  foot-ball  teams  and  the  rest  of  the  com- 

42 


EDUCATIONAL  AND  EECREATIVE 


paratively  few  among  our  young  men  who 
what  it  is  to  be  in  personal  conflict  with  another 
man  are  simply  receiving  further  instruction  in 
something  which  they  have  already  experienced  ; 
but  to  the  vast  majority  of  the  men  in  the  army 
and  navy  it  is  something  brand-new.  To  the 
mountaineer  and  the  boy  from  the  farm  it  is 
particularly  a  novelty.  The  contribution  of 
athletics  toward  the  developing  of  an  aggressive 
fighting  spirit  is  tremendous,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  this  spirit,  to  say  nothing  of  the  purely 
physical  benefit  which  the  men  get  from  the  ex- 
ercise, is  a  real  addition  to  the  military  efficiency 
of  those  soldiers. 

In  addition  to  seasonal  and  recreational  ath- 
letics, Walter  Camp  has  gradually  installed  his 
short-hand  setting-up  exercises  in  the  naval 
training  stations.  These  he  has  devised  from 
the  most  scientific  physical  culture  plans  of 
modern  students,  for  the  efficient  development 
of  the  body.  They  are  based  upon  the  principle 
that  proper  setting-up  exercises  should  exhil- 
arate and  strengthen  instead  of  weakening  and 
exhausting  as  was  often  the  result  of  the  old 

43 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

systems.  The  men  regard  these  exercises  as  an 
agreeable  change  from  former  calisthenics. 
Indeed,  they  have  become  enthusiasts  on  the 
subject. 

Mr.  Camp  has  introduced  this  new  system 
with  the  authority  of  one  who  was  for  nearly 
three  decades  organizer  of  athletics  at  Yale  and 
who  has  also  been  for  a  number  of  years  Chair- 
man of  the  Intercollegiate  Rules  Committee.  A 
school  for  trained  leaders  in  the  new  calisthenics 
is  operated  at  the  New  Haven  Naval  Base 
where  squads  of  officers  and  men  come  to  re- 
ceive instructions. 

The  most  encouraging  part  of  it  all  is  that  the 
men  enjoy  athletics  keenly,  and  the  cooperation 
of  the  officers  is  another  factor  that  makes  for 
its  success.  In  this  connection  I  give  the  fol- 
lowing close  paraphrase  of  a  memorandum  is- 
sued from  the  headquarters  of  one  of  the  camps 
by  order  of  the  brigadier-general : 

To  provide  an  opportunity  for  every  soldier  in  the 
camp  to  participate  actively  in  at  least  one  organized 
athletic  sport  and  to  provide  a  daily  recreation  period 
to  vary  the  regularly  prescribed  physical  drill,  men 

44 


d 


engaged  in  any  of  the  five  sports  composing  the  all- 
point  contest — that  is,  tug  of  war,  basket-ball,  volley- 
ball, soccer,  and  playground-ball — will  be  excused 
from  participation  in  the  daily  physical  drill,  pro- 
vided that  at  the  same  time  they  are  engaged  in 
games  under  the  provision  of  the  all-point  con- 
test. 

The  games  will  take  place  at  the  same  time,  and 
only  for  the  period  scheduled  for  physical  drill.  In 
order  that  too  much  time  may  not  be  wasted  in  going 
to  and  from  the  playing-fields  for  various  games, 
athletic  directors  are  authorized  to  confer  immediately 
with  regimental  and  organization  commanders  with 
a  view  to  laying  out  playing-fields  adjacent  to  the 
areas  upon  which  organizations  hold  their  physical- 
culture  work ;  and  further  to  assist  the  athletic  direc- 
tors, it  is  requested  that  organization  commanders 
furnish  them  with  a  copy  of  the  weekly  schedule  of 
military  duty  for  their  regiments  showing  times  when 
physical  drill  work  is  scheduled. 

Men  forming  these  various  teams  will  be  required 
to  be  present  for  the  games  as  regularly  as  if  par- 
ticipating in  the  prescribed  physical  work. 

Thus  with  better  bodies  are  developed  more 
alert  minds.  And  if  a  spirit  of  emulation  is 
fostered  in  competitive  athletics,  what  will  the 
result  be  on  the  battle  field?  Nothing  coordi- 
nates the  personal  faculties  needed  in  warfare 

47 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

like  the  team-work  that  goes  with  organized  ath- 
letics. In  the  inter-regimental  and  intercom- 
pany athletic  contests  one  finds  the  same  variety 
and  concerted  effort  and  team  enthusiasm  that 
characterize  the  college  foot-ball  game.  There 
is  one  great  difference,  however,  between  college 
athletics  and  those  of  the  army  and  navy.  In 
the  former  it  is  the  exceptional  man  who  derives 
the  benefit,  while  among  the  fighting  forces  it 
is  everybody.  University  athletics  develops 
champions;  army  and  navy  athletics  develops 
the  mass. 

"The  sports  included  in  the  camp  curriculum, 
such  as  boxing,  foot-ball,  and  other  personal- 
contact  games, ' '  says  Dr.  Raycrof t,  * '  have  been 
selected  primarily  to  prepare  the  men  for  the 
struggle  to  come,  and  the  value  of  the  athletic 
training  they  have  received  will  be  fully  realized 
when  they  go  "over  the  top."  When  the  com- 
mission first  began  its  work  in  this  direction 
there  was  prevalent  a  well-defined  belief  that  a 
soldier  could  be  made  by  putting  a  man  in  uni- 
form and  teaching  him  the  manual  of  arms. 
Our  experience  of  the  last  ten  months  has 

48 


EDUCATIONAL  AND  KECREATIVE 

proved  that  athletics  increases  a  man's  fighting 
efficiency  and  naturally  wholesome  recreation 
follows. 

"The  value  of  work  of  this  sort  cannot  be 
overestimated.  In  addition  to  the  obvious 
physical  benefits  which  are  derived  from  par- 
ticipation in  competitive  athletics,  there  are 
three  considerations  of  particular  importance 
that  are  not  generally  understood. 

"Boxing  has  great  value  in  developing  in  the 
individual  man  the  sense  of  confidence  and  ag- 
gressiveness that  is  generally  desirable  in  a  sol- 
dier, while  it  gives  better  than  any  other  form 
of  training  a  sound  foundation  for  modern  bay- 
onet-fighting. Participation  in  recreative  ac- 
tivities of  an  athletic  nature  is  most  valuable  as 
a  means  of  counteracting  the  necessary  monot- 
ony of  the  professional  training  work  and  as  a 
means  of  developing  a  group  spirit  and  soli- 
darity in  the  various  units,  while  it  was  recently 
characterized  by  one  of  the  leading  authorities 
on  mental  and  nervous  diseases  as  one  of  the 
most  important  factors  in  preventing  the  occur- 
rence of  the  condition  known  as  '  shell  shock. ' 

49 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

"A  large  percentage  of  the  casualties  on  the 
modern  battle-field  are  classified  as  '  shell  shock, ' 
though  less  than  half  of  these  are  due  to  the 
immediate  effect  of  concussion  from  high  ex- 
plosives. A  considerable  proportion  of  the  men 
suffer  merely  from  what  is  called  the  develop- 
ment of  'the  anxiety  state' — a  state  which  we 
sometimes  call  getting  stale,  and  which  displays 
itself  in  a  man  in  irritability  and  loss  of  appe- 
tite. Many  soldiers  go  through  pretty  much 
that  kind  of  experience.  They  lose  their  dis- 
crimination. Instead  of  being  able  to  tell 
whether  a  shell  which  is  going  through  the  air  is 
going  to  drop  fifty  yards  away  or  near  them, 
they  are  at  a  loss.  They  get  'jumpy. '  They  do 
not  sleep.  They  do  not  eat.  Gradually  they  lose 
their  power  to  work  and  are  dangerous  persons 
to  have  about.  It  is  dangerous  to  intrust  them 
with  any  responsibilities  if  they  are  officers.  It 
is  extremely  difficult  for  them  to  recover  from 
such  a  state.  One  of  the  important  factors  in 
the  prevention  of  the  development  of  this  con- 
dition is  the  opportunity  for,  and  the  habitual 
participation  in,  athletic  activities.  These  do 

50 


not  have  to  be  highly  organized,  but  they  must 
be  of  the  kind  that  stirs  one  up  and  takes  him 
out  of  himself." 

In  one  of  the  Western  cantonments  there  is  a 
big  field  where  sixteen  base-ball  diamonds  have 
been  laid  out,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  for  sixteen 
games  to  be  going  on  there  simultaneously. 
Try  to  visualize  this  scene  and  what  it  means 
simply  from  the  angle  of  clean  sport,  and  then 
picture  the  activities  of  these  men  as  fighters. 
What  bomb-throwers  those  pitchers  will  make ! 
How  resourceful  those  first  basemen  will  be  in 
battle!  How  keen  the  catchers!  Here  is  first 
aid  to  discipline,  self -discipline  at  that.  As  an 
index  of  public  interest,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
mention  that  a  foot-ball  game  between  teams 
representing  two  Western  camps  brought  in 
gate  receipts  of  $40,000. 

At  another  camp  there  are  twenty-six  -foot- 
ball gridirons,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  eight- 
een thousand.  Multiply  the  enthusiasm  of  a 
single  game  by  twenty-six,  and  consider  its 
effect  on  the  morale  of  participants  and  the  en- 
thusiasm of  spectators.  Sports  to-day  are  in- 

51 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

deed  being  promoted  on  a  scale  that  is  unpar- 
alleled in  history,  and  new  conditions  have 
given  rise  to  a  new  emphasis  on  mass  athletics. 
Games  of  soccer  have  frequently  occurred  in 
which  four  hundred  players  have  participated, 
with  from  eight  to  ten  balls  in  use.  Two  thou- 
sand men  run  cross-country  races  at  one  time. 
Within  a  week  three  thousand  men  in  one  naval 
station  played  base-ball. 

Among  the  divisional  athletic  officers  are 
some  of  the  foremost  athletic  coaches  in  the 
country.  To  a  man  they  are  skilled  organizers 
and  directors  and  many  of  them  have  been 
star  athletes  in  their  undergraduate  days.  As 
might  be  expected,  the  caliber  of  these  leaders 
is  high.  In  civil  life  they  were  engineers,  archi- 
tects, deans  of  universities,  lawyers,  and  impor- 
tant men  of  business. 

The  inspirational  value  of  playing  needs  lit- 
tle exposition,  but  the  parallel  between  playing 
and  fighting  may  be  illustrated  in  a  number  of 
ways.  While  playing  soccer  a  man  must  be 
ready  constantly  to  strike  at  the  ball  with  either 
foot.  In  this  way  he  naturally  acquires  a  short 

52 


EDUCATIONAL  AND  EECREATIVE 

gait  and  a  balance  that  will  serve  him  in  good 
stead  in  traversing  the  churned  and  furrowed 
surface  of  no-man's-land.  It  is  a  highly  exhil- 
arating game,  combining  the  maximum  of  exer- 
cise and  recreation  with  a  training  that  will  be 
exceedingly  useful  to  the  men  when  they  meet 
the  enemy. 

The  science  of  boxing,  as  Dr.  Raycroft  has 
pointed  out,  is  intimately  related  to  the  busi- 
ness of  bayonet-fighting.  The  sport  of  boxing 
develops  the  science.  Incidentally,  it  is  one  of 
the  most  popular  sports  in  camp  and  one  of  the 
cleanest.  At  a  well-known  New  York  club  de- 
voted to  the  arts  one  of  the  regular  weekly  din- 
ners was  followed  by  an  informal  discussion  on 
the  subject  of  boxing.  It  was  a  hobby  of  one  of 
the  members,  and  to  prove  his  contention  that 
it  was  not  a  brutalizing  sport,  he  had  arranged 
a  few  short  bouts  for  the  edification  of  those 
present.  Among  them  was  a  clergyman,  a  mid- 
dle-aged man,  who  had  followed  the  discussion 
with  interest,  but  looked  as  though  he  had  no  ac- 
quaintance with  the  subject  at  first  hand. 

After  a  five-round  bout  between  two  speedy 
53 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

young  middle-weights,  the  enthusiastic  master 
of  ceremonies  turned  to  the  clergyman  and  ex- 
claimed : 

"Well,  what  do  you  think  of  it!  Is  it 
brutal?" 

And  the  clergyman  replied  with  equal  enthu- 
siasm: 

"It  's  worth  a  ten-dollar  bill  to  see  a  man  who 
can  take  a  blow  in  the  face  without  getting 
mad. ' ' 

Boxing  teaches  the  manly  art  of  self-control 
as  well  as  that  of  self-defense.  It  also  makes 
better  bayonet-fighters.  Nearly  every  blow  and 
position  has  its  counterpart  in  bayoneting.  I 
have  seen  boxing  lessons  in  camp  given  to  one 
thousand  men  all  at  once,  the  class  being  di- 
rected by  a  man  on  a  high  stand.  One  thousand 
boxing  lessons  at  the  same  time !  I  said  to  an 
officer  standing  by: 

"How  many  of  those  men  do  you  suppose 
have  ever  struck  another  man  since  they  were 
boys!" 

"Not  ten  per  cent,"  he  answered,  and  I  think 
he  was  right.  The  boxing  which  these  men  did 

54 


EDUCATIONAL  AND  RECREATIVE 

in  friendly  bouts  later  taught  them  what  per- 
sonal conflict  was.  One  of  these  days  the  quick- 
ness and  aggressiveness  developed  in  this  box- 
ing will  be  the  means  of  saving  their  lives. 

The  attack  known  as  the  "long  point  "'in  bay- 
onet-work, for  instance,  corresponds  to  a  "left 
lead"  in  boxing,  and  a  blow  of  the  butt  of  a  gun 
to  a  "right-hand  counter."  The  leg-work  in 
executing  a  "chop"  with  the  bayonet  is  very 
similar  to  what  is  known  as  a  "  Fitzsimmons ' 
shift. "  The  men  learn  to  be  quick  on  their  feet. 
Nor  is  this  merely  theoretical.  The  Canadian 
troops  who  have  been  at  the  front  report  that 
the  agility  and  quickness  of  eye  gained  in  box- 
ing is  a  valuable  part  of  the  soldier's  equipment. 

Detailed  groups  of  men  who  have  had  pre- 
vious knowledge  of  this  sport  have  been  trained 
by  the  boxing  instructors  to  become  their  assist- 
ants. In  many  camps  from  two  hundred  to  four 
hundred  of  these  assistant  boxing  instructors 
have  been  developed  and  are  giving  instruction. 
The  system  reaches  out  to  every  man  in  the  serv- 
ice. "I  feel  that  the  boxing  instructor's  place 
is  with  the  division  until  we  are  ready  to  occupy 

55 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

the  trenches,  and  indeed  afterward,  to  keep  up 
their  spirit  and  desire  for  personal  combat 
among  the  men  whenever  quartered  in  billets; 
for  his  work  among  the  men  has  reached  their 
fighting  spirit  more  than  any  one  realizes  at 
this  time,"  said  the  commanding  officer  of  one 
of  the  big  army  camps  in  an  official  report. 

Moving-picture  films  that  show  in  the  most 
graphic  manner  possible  the  relation  between 
boxing  and  bayonet-fighting  have  been  prepared 
by  the  War  Department  Commission  on  Train- 
ing Camp  Activities  and  distributed  for  exhibi- 
tion in  the  various  National  Army  and  National 
Guard  cantonments  to  facilitate  the  work.  The 
world's  champion  boxers  posed  for  the  pictures 
which  illustrate  in  detail  the  proper  way  of 
starting  and  landing  the  different  blows  and 
how  to  put  the  full  force  of  the  body  behind 
them.  Their  counterparts  in  bayoneting  are 
demonstrated.  "Bayoneting  is  boxing  with  a 
gun  in  your  hands,"  is  one  of  the  expressive 
subtitles  of  the  film,  and  then  a  famous  boxer 
is  shown  starting  a  "left  hook"  for  the  head  of 
another  pugilist,  while  at  the  same  time  the  bay- 

66 


EDUCATIONAL  AND  RECREATIVE 

oneteer  uses  the  same  movements  in  sending  his 
bayonet  toward  the  neck  of  an  armed  antagonist. 

One  of  the  boxing  instructors — there  is  one  in 
nearly  every  large  training  camp — marvels  at 
the  manner  in  which  they  respond  to  this  in- 
struction. 

"It  's  incredible,"  he  says,  "the  way  boxing 
has  taken  hold  of  the  men.  They  're  simply 
wild  over  it.  In  the  classes  where  I  am  explain- 
ing the  blows  and  positions  they  hang  on  every 
word  and  watch  my  movements  as  a  cat  watches 
a  mouse.  The  results  of  the  instruction  are 
plainly  seen  in  the  bouts  the  men  hold  in  their 
barracks  and  camp-recreation  buildings.  In- 
stead of  lowering  their  heads  and  whaling  away 
wildly  in  windmill  fashion  like  novices,  they 
square  off  and  sail  into  one  another  with  heads 
erect  and  their  guards  up- just  like  real  profes- 
sionals." 

Are  you  thinking  that  this  training  for  bay- 
onet-fighting may  brutalize  the  men,  your 
son  or  your  husband,  perhaps?  Richardson 
Wright,  in  his  "Letters  to  the  Mother  of  a  Sol- 
dier," says: 

57 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

If  you  feel  that  jabbing  six  inches  of  cold  steel 
into  Germans  will  make  brutes  of  Harry  and  his  fel- 
lows, what  would  you  think  about  him  if  he  refused 
to  do  it?  In  times  of  peace  the  man  who  refuses  to 
defend  his  fellow-man  against  the  unjust  and  mur- 
derous assault  of  a  thug  is  called  a  coward.  How 
much  more  is  he  a  coward  who  sees  the  bleeding  and 
miUilated  forms  of  outraged  men  and  women  and 
the  ruins  of  their  homes,  and  does  not  rush  to  their 
defense?  This  sort  of  bravery  is  what  you  gave  the 
boy  yourself  .  .  .  you  taught  him  tenderness,  un- 
selfishness, loyalty,  laughter,  courage,  and  endurance, 
and  with  these  things  to  play  the  great  game.  Put 
a  bayonet  in  such  a  man's  hands  and  tell  him  to  kill 
the  foe.  He  will  kill  not  because  he  has  a  lust  for 
Mood,  but  because  of  the  righteousness  of  the  cause. 

Besides  the  better-known  sports,  there  is  a 
great  variety  of  games:  Volley-ball,  push-ball, 
medicine-ball,  quoits,  cross-country  running, 
fencing,  and,  at  the  naval  training  stations  in 
particular,  swimming.  At  one  of  the  stations  it 
was  found  that  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  of  the 
men  were  unable  to  swim,  so  the  best  instructors 
available  were  engaged.  At  least  one  half  of 
the  cantonments  boast  tennis-courts,  and  there 
are  other  evidences  of  the  initiative  of  the  vari- 

58 


. 


EDUCATIONAL  AND  RECREATIVE 

ous  divisions,  regiments,  and  companies  that 
are  in  the  same  category.  When  the  camps  are 
in  Northern  climates,  the  men  indulge  during 
the  winter  in  such  sports  as  skating,  skeeing, 
and  tobogganing.  All  of  these  indicate  a  con- 
certed tendency  toward  healthful,  worth-while 
diversions,  fully  as  pronounced  as,  if  not  more 
than,  in  the  universities. 

One  phase  of  camp  athletics  is  hardly  touched 
by  the  colleges — laughter-compelling  games. 
This  is  important,  for  good  humor  is  one  of  the 
vital  elements  of  discipline.  The  games  are 
popular,  too.  The  men  get  a  particular  wild  de- 
light out  of  "swat  tag."  Twenty  or  thirty  of 
them  form  a  circle,  standing  with  their  hands 
behind  their  backs,  palms  up,  facing  toward  the 
center  of  the  circle.  The  man  who  is  *  *  it "  holds 
a  cotton-stuffed  canvas  bag  about  eighteen 
inches  long  by  two  inches  thick.  As  he  walks 
around  the  outside  of  the  circle  he  places  the  bag 
in  the  hands  of  any  of  the  players.  As  soon  as 
a  man  has  the  bag  thrust  upon  him  he  strikes 
with  it  at  his  neighbor  on  the  right.  The  idea 
is  for  the  right-hand  neighbor  of  the  man  who 

61 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

thus  becomes  "it"  by  receiving  the  bag  to  race 
around  the  circle  and  back  to  his  former  place 
before  he  is  struck.  The  man  who  is  "it"  has 
the  privilege  of  placing  it  in  the  hands  of  any 
of  the  players. 

What  does  this  simple  game  do  for  the  man? 
It  develops  an  extreme  physical  alertness.  I 
have  seen  the  game  create  a  perfect  wave  of 
nerve  tension  among  a  circle  of  thirty  newly 
drafted  men.  There  was  a  big  stimulus  to  avoid 
being  hit.  It  put  every  man  of  them  on  his  toes. 
Some  of  them  were  nettled,  stung,  when  they 
were  caught.  To  many  of  them  it  was  a  new 
sensation.  One  man  was  continually  the  butt. 
He  was  always  getting  thumped,  and  he  reacted 
accordingly.  He  developed  quickness;  he  de- 
veloped a  fighting  spirit. 

Another  of  these  games  has  some  of  the  same 
elements  of  boyish  fun  combined  with  real  mili- 
tary value.  A  man  stands  in  the  center  of  a 
circle  of  troops  and  swings  a  twelve-foot  rope 
with  a  weight  on  the  end  around  the  circumfer- 
ence as  rapidly  as  possible.  Each  man  in  the 
circle  has  to  jump  as  the  rope  approaches  him, 


EDUCATIONAL  AND  EECEEATIVE 

and  if  he  does  not  jump  high  enough  to  clear  it, 
his  legs  get  entangled,  and  he  is  thrown  to  the 
ground.  It  sounds  simple,  and  it  is ;  but  I  wish 
that  you  could  see  it  done.  Men  get  hysterical 
in  their  laughter  when  they  see  it,  and,  in  fact, 
all  of  these  games  are  equally  mirth-provoking. 
They  play  leap-frog,  prisoners '-base,  and  a 
dozen  others  their  younger  brothers  have  for- 
gotten, and  they  enjoy  them. 

There  are  plenty  of  games  of  this  sort  that, 
besides  promoting  good  feeling,  develop  self- 
control,  agility,  mental  alertness,  and  initiative, 
all  bases  on  which  to  build  military  efficiency. 
Moreover,  men  whose  boyhood  ended  all  too 
soon  have  an  opportunity  to  play  as  they  never 
played  before. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  all  this  is  a  part 
of  military  training,  and  that  the  pleasure  de- 
rived is  something  more  than  incidental.  Mus- 
cle counts  for  little  unless  there  are  behind  it 
driving  force  and  control ;  apathy  in  an  army  or 
a  navy  is  fatal.  But  the  fighters  who  play  and 
who  laugh  as  they  play  are  irresistible. 


63 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   FIGHTERS   WHO   SING 

Glory,  glory,  hallelu-YUH! 
Glory,  glory,  hallelu-YUH! 
Glory,  glory,  hallelu-YUH! 
As  we  go  marching  on. 

THE  way  those  sailor  boys  came  out  with  the 
"  YUH"  was  a  caution. 
Eight  hundred  of  them  had  trooped  into  the 
armory  at  the  Naval  Training  Station  for  a 
"sing."    They  had  been  drilling  all  the  morn- 
ing   and    a    part    of    the    afternoon    on    the 
"grinder,"   as   they  call   the  parade   ground 
where  they  practise  their  evolutions,  so  that 
when  they  began  the  session  with 

Pack  up  your  troubles  in  your  old  kit  bag 
And  smile,  smile,  smile, 

there  was  a  noticeable  lack  of  enthusiasm.    You 
could  hear  the  accompaniment  all  through  it 

64 


THE  FIGHTERS  WHO  SING 

It  seemed  as  though  they  would  rather  sit  and 
listen  to  the  sailor  lad  play  the  piano. 

This  phase  did  not  last.  The  song-leader  an- 
nounced from  the  table  on  which  he  stood  that 
he  wanted  them  to  sing  "  Where  Do  We  Go 
From  Here." 

"Everybody  sing!"  he  shouted.  "If  you 
don't  sing,  whistle,  keep  time  with  your  feet, 
only  do  something.  Now  for  some  ginger ! ' ' 

He  raised  his  baton,  the  accompanist  struck 
a  chord,  and  then — 

Where  do  we  go  from  here,  boys? 
Where  do  we  go  from  here? 
Slip  a  pill  to  Kaiser  Bill? 
And  make  him  shed  a  tear; 
And  when  we  see  the  enemy 
We  '11  chase  him  to  the  rear. 
O  joy!  0  BOY! 
Where  do  we  go  from  here  ? 

This  was  better.  Things  were  beginning  to 
liven  up.  One  of  the  bluejackets  shouted,  "O 
Jerry,  give  us  'Joan  of  Arc'!"  Hardly  any  of 
the  boys  knew  the  song-leader's  last  name,  and 
they  would  n  't  use  it  if  they  did.  He  is  a  civil  - 

65 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

ian  appointed  by  the  Navy  Department  Com- 
mission on  Training  Camp  Activities,  and  like 
all  the  rest  of  the  song-leaders,  he  gets  his  re- 
sults through  personality  and  the  provision  of 
inspiration.  It  would  take  more  than  a  song- 
leader  to  make  men  sing,  but  he  can  make  them 
want  to. 

So  they  sang  "Joan  of  Arc,"  and  there  was 
a  strong,  patriotic  thrill  in  the  line 

Come  lead  your  France  to  victory, 

sung  to  a  measure  of  the  Marseillaise.  It  was 
an  earnest  of  what  these  men  would  do  toward 
freeing  the  world  of  Prussianism.  They  sang 
it  vigorously,  joyously;  theirs  was  the  spirit  of 
conquerors. 

Then  they  sang  "Old  Black  Joe,"  to  give  an 
.outlet  to  harmonious  inclinations,  followed  by 
the  whimsical  ditty  whose  chorus  is — 

Good-bye  Ma,  good-bye  Pa, 
Good-bye  Mule  with  your  old  he-haw. 
I  may  not  know  what  the  war  's  about, 
But  you  bet,  by  gosh,  I  '11  soon  find  out! 
An'  0  my  sweetheart,  don't  you  fear, 
I  '11  bring  you  a  king  for  a  souvenir. 
66 


THE  FIGHTERS  WHO  SING 

I  '11  git  you  a  Turk  and  a  Kaiser,  too, 
An'  that  's  about  all  one  feller  can  do! 

A  quickening  of  the  spirit  was  apparent. 
The  accompaniment  got  lost  directly  following 
the  first  chord ;  and  finally  when  they  sang 

We  '11  hang  Bill  Kaiser  to  a  sour-apple  tree 
and  the  refrain  of 

Glory,  glory,  hallelu-YUH! 

the  very  rafters  vibrated  in  sympathy. 

It  took  these  men  just  forty-eight  seconds 
to  stack  their  camp-chairs  and  get  back  into  line. 
When  they  counted  off  in  fours  there  was  a  snap 
in  their  enunciation  that  had  been  absent  before 
they  began  to  sing,  and  as  they  marched  out  of 
the  armory  they  stepped  briskly.  In  their  com- 
plete relaxation  they  forgot  all  about  being 
tired.  It  was  a  graphic  demonstration  of  the 
practical  value  of  singing  as  an  adjunct  to  the 
training  of  men  for  warfare. 

A  singing  army  is  a  cheerful  one,  and,  other 
things  being  equal,  a  cheerful  army  is  invincible. 
Therefore,  as  a  definite  part  of  camp  drill  it  has 

67 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

a  distinct  military  value.  Authorities  do  not 
lay  stress  upon  it  in.  the  military  textbooks,  but 
they  talk  a  good  deal  about  morale  and  esprit  de 
corps,  on  both  of  which  singing  has  an  immense 
influence. 

A  well-known  officer  said  that,  theoretically, 
music  is  a  gratuity,  a  luxury ;  practically,  it  has 
proved  itself  to  be  a  necessity.  With  these  sen- 
timents behind  it — they  are  typical — army  and 
navy  singing  is  making  tremendous  progress, 
and  the  effects  are  already  beginning  to  show. 

Singing  has  long  been  recognized  as  an  aid  to 
efficiency,  but  it  remained  for  the  Commissions 
on  Training  Camp  Activities  to  develop  it  in  an 
army  and  navy  with  that  end  in  view.  A  hun- 
dred years  ago,  when  American  shipping  was 
paramount  on  the  seven  seas,  the  sailors  before 
the  mast  sang  their  chanties  as  they  pulled  on 
the  ropes  or  tugged  at  the  windlass.  Chanties 
were  regarded  as  an  aid  to  man  power.  They 
might  be  sentimental  or  dramatic  or  ribald- 
more  often  than  not  the  words  were  as  ungodly 
as  the  men  who  sang  them — but  they  smacked 
of  the  salt  sea,  they  promoted  good  feeling 


THE  FIGHTEES  WHO  SING 

among  the  crew,  and  they  were  an  energizing  in- 
fluence. Those  days  are  coming  back.  Not 
only  has  the  inspiration  and  power  of  song  been 
recognized  by  the  War  and  Navy  Departments, 
but  to  further  it  on  board  all  the  ships  flying  an 
American  flag  the  United  States  Shipping 
Board  Recruiting  Service  has  appointed  an  of- 
ficial Chantey-Man  for  our  merchant  marine  to 
help  revive  singing  among  our  sailors. 

It  is  natural  for  men  to  sing  when  they  con- 
gregate in  groups,  almost  as  natural  as  are  their 
gregarious  instincts.  Singing  provides  an  out- 
let for  their  inherent  desire  for  self-expression ; 
it  is  likewise  relaxation  and  also  stimulation. 
If  mass  singing  in  the  army  and  navy  needs  any 
justification  by  those  who  cannot  see  its  broader, 
inspirational  significance,  it  would  be  sufficient 
only  to  cite  its  physical  effects. 

' '  It  is  just  as  essential  that  the  soldiers  should 
know  how  to  sing  as  that  they  should  carry  rifles 
and  learn  how  to  shoot  them,"  said  Major-Gen- 
eral  Leonard  Wood.  "  Singing  is  one  of  the 
things  they  all  should  learn.  It  sounds  odd  to 
the  ordinary  person  when  you  tell  him  every 

69 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

soldier  should  be  a  singer,  because  the  layman 
cannot  reconcile  singing  with  killing.  But 
when  you  know  these  boys  as  I  know  them,  you 
will  realize  how  much  it  means  to  them  to  sing. 
There  is  n  't  anything  in  the  world,  even  letters 
from  home,  that  will  raise  a  soldier's  spirits 
like  a  good,  catchy  marching-tune." 

Another  officer  says:  "It  is  monotony  that 
kills  the  men  off.  A  man  gets  tired  of  drill, 
tired  of  doing  the  same  thing  in  barracks,  even 
tired  of  getting  shot  at.  We  need  company 
leaders  to  teach  the  men  new  songs ;  we  need  in- 
structors to  show  the  men  how  to  get  up  their 
own  minstrel  shows  and  dramatic  entertain- 
ments. Everything  that  can  be  devised  by  way 
of  wholesome  amusement  toward  breaking  up 
the  monotony  is  a  direct  help  in  making  better 
soldiers  and  in  keeping  the  standards  high." 

The  resourcefulness  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
individual  song-leaders  has  resulted  in  the  de- 
velopment of  both  social  and  military  team- 
work. There  are  plenty  of  incidents  which  go 
toward  proving  the  statement,  but  one  of  the 
best  of  these  occurred  in  a  camp  not  over  a  hun- 

70 


dred  miles  from  Boston.  The  song-leader  had 
a  small  motor-car  with  space  in  the  back  for  a 
folding  organ.  This  enabled  him  to  carry  his 
work  to  the  men  in  whatever  part  of  the  camp 
they  happened  to  be.  He  had,  moreover,  a 
number  of  white  oilcloth  charts  on  which  were 
lettered  the  words  of  the  most  popular  songs. 

One  afternoon  while  on  a  trip  through  the 
camp  the  song-leader  noticed  about  forty  men 
pulling  stumps.  He  saw  at  a  glance  that  they 
were  tired,  dog-tired,  in  fact.  Drawing  up  his 
car  at  the  side  of  the  road,  he  held  a  hurried 
conversation  with  the  officer  in  charge.  The 
officer  was  heard  to  say,  "By  all  means,  try 
it." 

So  the  song-leader  unrolled  his  charts  and 
hung  them  on  the  side  of  the  "flivver,"  told 
the  men  to  sit  down  on  the  stumps  they  had  been 
pulling,  gave  them  a  chord  or  two  on  the  little 
organ,  and  suggested  that  they  sing,  "Yaaka 
Hula,  Hickey  Dula."  They  did.  It  began  a 
trifle  languidly,  but  the  volume  picked  up  after 
the  first  line,  and  they  repeated  the  chorus  twice. 
This  was  followed  by  that  modern  classic, 

71 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

Keep  your  head  down  Al-le-mand, 

Keep  your  head  down  Al-le-mand, 

Last  night  by  the  pale  moonlight, 

I  saw  you,  I  saw  you, 

You  were  mending  your  broken  wire, 

When  we  opened  with  rapid  fire, 

If  you  want  to  see  your  fader  in  the  faderland 

Keep  your  head  down  Al-le-mand. 

They  fairly  bawled  it  out.  The  transition 
from  lassitude  to  energy  was  marked  and  sud- 
den. They  didn't  want  to  stop,  either.  For 
fully  twenty  minutes  they  sang  under  the  lead- 
ership of  the  song-coach,  and  as  he  left,  the 
men  cheered  and  the  lieutenant  yelled,  "Come 
again!"  They  went  back  to  their  work,  but 
they  yanked  out  the  stumps  with  a  vigor  that 
had  been  lacking  before.  From  a  distance  the 
leader  heard  them  singing  as  they  worked, 

Pull  away,  pull  away,  pull  away,  brave  boys, 
Pull  away,  pull  away,  the  vict'ry  's  ours. 

"The  victory  is  yours,  all  right,"  he  said  to 
himself,  "but  you  don't  want  to  forget  that 
song  is  a  mighty  good  ally." 

A  leader,  describing  his  initial  sing  with  the 
72 


THE  FIGHTERS  WHO  SING 

sailors  at  Norfolk,  shows  in  a  similar  manner 
the  reactions  of  the  men. 

"When  I  started  out,"  he  says,  "the  men  had 
just  had  a  serious  talk  from  the  chaplain  on  the 
responsibilities  of  their  new  work,  the  dentists 
had  been  ministering  to  them  all  the  morning, 
and  the  doctors  had  been  at  work  with  their  se- 
rums. I  was  feeling  a  bit  depressed  myself, 
and  when  my  accompanist  failed  to  appear  at 
the  last  minute,  I  wondered  if  I  alone  could 
bring  back  to  normal  all  those  woeful  counte- 
nances. Ten  minutes  later  the  miracle  had  been 
wrought,  but  not  by  me — the  song  did  the  trick." 

There  has  been  a  marked  catholicity  of  taste 
in  the  kind  of  music  chosen  for  camp  singing. 
It  is  in  keeping  with  the  purpose  of  the  Commis- 
sions that  less  attention  is  paid  to  the  matter  of 
what  the  men  sing  than  to  the  more  important 
consideration  that  they  sing.  The  bulk  of  the 
songs  are  nothing  classical ;  sometimes  they  are 
inclined  toward  the  "roughhouse";  and  yet  one 
day  in  a  southern  camp  I  heard  a  group  of  thou- 
sands of  men — almost  a  whole  division — sing- 
ing: 

73 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory 

Of  the  coining  of  the  Lord, 

He  is  trampling  out  the  vineyard, 

Where  the  grapes  of  wrath  are  stored; 

and  I  felt  no  misgivings  as  to  the  wholesomeness 
of  the  sentiments  of  these  singing  fighters. 

This  breadth  of  choice  is  strongly  in  evidence 
in  "Songs  of  the  Soldiers  and  Sailors,"  the  first 
song-book  ever  published  by  a  government. 
When  the  Commissions  inaugurated  the  song- 
coach  system  in  the  army  and  navy,  they  real- 
ized that  unless  there  was  some  method  of 
standardization,  the  soldiers  and  sailors  from 
different  parts  of  the  United  States  would  not 
know  the  same  songs  when  they  came  together, 
so  a  conference  of  song-leaders  was  held  under 
the  auspices  of  the  National  Committee  on 
Army  and  Navy  Camp  Music  to  compile  a  col- 
lection that  would  be  composed  of  what  the 
greatest  number  wanted  to  sing.  The  result  is 
the  little  khaki-bound  volume  called  "Songs  for 
Soldiers  and  Sailors,*'  which  is  on  sale  at  the 
Post  Exchanges  at  all  of  the  camps.  The  price 
is  five  cents  to  those  in  the  service,  while  civil- 

74 


THE  FIGHTERS  WHO  SING 

ians  may  purchase  it  for  ten.  It  contains  songs 
of  all  sorts,  from  the  National  Anthem  to  '  *  Send 
me  a  Curl,"  and  contains  such  favorites  as 
"Carry  Me  Back  to  Old  Virginny,"  "Silver 
Threads  Among  the  Gold,"  "Dixie,"  and  a 
few  of  the  best-known  hymns.  It  is,  I  believe, 
the  most  remarkable  song-book  ever  pub- 
lished. 

Musical  originality  is  being  encouraged  and 
developed  at  all  of  the  camps.  There  are  '  *  song 
contests"  in  which  the  various  regiments  com- 
pete for  prizes  offered  by  public-spirited  citi- 
zens, and  in  some  of  these  some  wonderfully 
good  original  songs  have  been  sung  for  the  first 
time  by  their  composers.  Among  these  are 
parodies,  like  the  Camp  Devens  gem,  "Where 
Do  We  Go  From  Ayer,  Boys?"  and  many  sim- 
ilar ditties,  but  others  are  wholly  original,  both 
words  and  music. 

Mass  singing  is  of  great  value  in  filling  in 
periods  of  waiting.  A  crowd  of  marines  were 
waiting  in  the  "Y"  auditorium  at  Quantico  for 
a  vaudeville  show  to  begin.  The  performers 
were  late.  So  the  boys  sang,  and  if  the  band 

75 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

on  the  platform  had  not  been  more  than  ordi- 
narily efficient,  you  would  not  have  known  it 
was  there.  They  went  through  nearly  the 
whole  repertoire,  singing  from  words  that  were 
thrown  on  a  screen  by  a  stereopticon.  Then  the 
"Hymn  of  the  Marines"  was  announced,  the 
500  men  rose  to  their  feet,  and  they  sang  it 
gloriously. 

The  men  sing  on  the  march,  they  sing  in  their 
barracks,  and  they  sing  between  the  acts  at  the 
Liberty  Theaters.  For  the  most  part  it  is  spon- 
taneous, first  and  last,  but  if  it  is  not  at  first, 
it  is  certain  to  be  in  the  end.  I  have  seen  groups 
of  men  in  which  there  were  a  few  whose  faces 
indicated  a  grim  resolve  not  to  be  forced  to  sing. 
Their  attitude  toward  the  song-leader  was  de- 
fiant. Presently,  however,  their  feet  began  to 
keep  time  to  the  music  surreptitiously,  as 
though  they  were  ashamed  of  it.  The  charm 
had  begun  to  work.  It  hardly  ever  took  longer 
than  ten  minutes  for  every  one  of  those  men  to 
be  singing  as  lustily  as  any  in  the  group.  . 

The  song-leader  at  the  Great  Lakes  Naval 
Trammer  Station  shows  by  the  following  inter- 

76 


^ 
•/ 
ti 

3 
-^ 

= 
C$ 


£ 
'5 


THE  FIGHTEBS  WHO  SING 

esting  synopsis  what  singing  does  for  the  fight- 
ing men : 

I.     THE  UNIT 

1.  Team-work 

2.  Concerted  action 

II.    MENTAL.  DISCIPLINE 

1.  Memory 

2.  Observation 

3.  Initiative 

4.  Definiteness 

5.  Concentration 

6.  Accuracy 

7.  Punctual  attack  and  action 

III.     PHYSICAL  BENEFITS 

1.  A  strong  back,  chest,  and  lungs 

2.  A  throat  less  liable  to  infection 

3.  Increased  circulation  helps  to  clear 

nasal  cavities 

4.  Strengthens  and  preserves  voice 

The  following  letter  that  I  recently  received 
from  a  lieutenant  in  France  is  one  of  the  best 

79 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  PIT 

evidences  of  how  singing  promotes  morale 
"over  there."  His  men  were  taking  a  thirty- 
mile  hike,  and  he  had  gone  on  ahead  to  find  quar- 
ters for  them. 

"I  had  to  parley-vous  pretty  fast  for  a  few 
hours  to  get  together  a  couple  of  tons  of  straw, 
enough  firewood  for  a  day  or  two,  kitchens,  local 
supply-rooms,  orderly  rooms,  officers'  rooms, 
water-supply,  and  so  on.  But  I  was  all  ready 
when  the  column  arrived,  and  they  all  had  a  hot 
meal  that  night  and  half  a  bundle  of  straw  to 
sleep  on.  The  general  and  the  colonel  were 
both  there  when  I  met  the  column  and  began 
dropping  the  men  off  in  their  billets — ten  here, 
fifteen  there,  and  so  on  through  the  village. 

"And  they  were  singing,  too,  when  they  came 
in,  the  poor  kids!  Not  much  of  a  rollicking, 
boisterous  song,  but  still  a  song.  They  were 
woefully  tired,  but  wouldn't  quit — eighteen 
miles  the  first  day  and  twelve  the  second ;  long, 
hard  marches  with  heavy  packs,  steel  helmets, 
gas  masks,  and  the  odds  and  ends  of  much 
equipment  weighing  seventy  or  eighty  pounds. 
Their  feet  were  so  blistered  that  they  could 

80 


THE  FIGHTERS  WHO  SING 

hardly  hobble  along.  And  the  next  day  they 
were  very  proud  of  themselves  for  finishing! 
They  were  nothing  but  kids,  but  they  had  a 
spirit  that  brings  tears  to  your  eyes ! ' ' 

Inspiration,  the  greatest  force  of  music,  is,  of 
course,  taken  for  granted.  In  this  connection 
it  is  well  worth  noting  that  General  Pershing 
has  asked  for  the  organization  of  American 
bands  of  forty-five  musicians,  after  the  pattern 
of  the  French  bands  of  fifty  pieces,  in  addition 
to  a  field-music  corps  of  thirty-six  drummers 
and  trumpeters.  Instrumental  music  is  receiv- 
ing a  great  impetus,  as  well  as  singing,  in  the 
army  and  navy.  Regimental  bands  are  prog- 
ressing beyond  the  ability  to  carry  a  blaring 
tune. 

The  War  Department  Commission  on  Train- 
ing Camp  Activities  believes  that  the  endorse- 
ment of  General  Pershing  and  his  recognition 
of  the  inferiority  of  American  bands,  in  com- 
parison with  those  of  France,  will  go  a  long 
way  toward  the  improvement  of  this  branch  of 
the  service.  The  narrow  field  to  which  our  gov- 
ernment musicians  have  been  restricted  has  not 

81 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

tended  toward  the  development  of  such  splendid 
concert  bands  as  can  be  heard  in  any  part  of 
Europe.  As  examples,  there  are  the  Cold- 
stream  Guards  of  London,  the  Royal  Scottish 
Highlanders  of  Edinburgh,  the  Guard  Repub- 
licaine  of  Paris,  the  Municipal  Band  and  Royal 
Carabinieri  of  Rome,  and  even  the  bands  of  the 
Bavarian  army  that  were  stationed  at  Munich. 
We  have  only  one  government  band  that  can 
compare  with  these  European  bands — the  Ma- 
rine Band  of  Washington.  But  the  war  is  grad- 
ually bringing  about  a  true  realization  of  the 
value  of  music  as  a  factor  in  increasing  a  man's 
fighting  efficiency,  and  the  approval  of  General 
Pershing  will  stimulate  this  feeling  and  help  us 
greatly  in  accomplishing  our  purpose. 

Patriotism  is  no  hollow,  empty  thing.  It 
wins  battles.  And  the  music,  be  it  instrumental 
or  vocal,  that  awakens  it  and  feeds  it  is  scarcely 
less  potent  than  high  explosives.  At  sunset, 
when  the  colors  are  lowered  and  the  bugles 
blow  "Retreat,"  you  can  best  sense  its  true 
meaning.  The  most  matter-of-fact  man  in  the 
world,  the  oldest  officer  in  the  service,  and  the 

82 


THE  FIGHTERS  WHO  SING 

newest  recruit — all  stand  at  rigid  attention  as 
the  band  plays  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner." 

Our  boys  are  singing.    A  singing  army  is  in- 
vincible. 


83 


CHAPTER  V 

WHAT   THEY   BEAD AND   WHY 

WHAT  do  our  soldiers  read? 
You  might  as  well  ask  what  the  peo- 
ple of  Fresno,  California,  or  Madison,  Wiscon- 
sin, or  East  Orange,  New  Jersey,  read.  In  an 
army  of  a  million  and  a  half  men  selected  from 
all  strata  of  society  and  from  every  walk  of 
life,  there  are  bound  to  be  as  many  varieties  of 
taste  as  in  a  like  number  of  civilians.  And  yet, 
strange  as  it  may  seem  at  first  glance,  the  fact 
that  they  are  soldiers  does  make  a  difference. 
I  have  talked  with  Dr.  Herbert  Putnam,  Librar- 
ian of  Congress  and  General  Director  of  the 
Library  War  Service,  and  with  many  other  rep- 
resentatives of  the  American  Library  Associa- 
tion, including  camp  librarians,  and  they  are 
unanimous  in  their  statement  that  the  American 
soldier  of  to-day  reads  a  higher  class  of  books 
than  the  average  American  citizen. 

84 


WHAT  THEY  BEAD— AND  WHY 

In  supplying  the  normalities  of  life  to  the 
fighting  men,  a  program  that  omitted  provision 
for  the  adequate  distribution  of  good  reading- 
matter  would  have  been  as  anomalous  as  a  uni- 
form without  a  man  in  it.  Hence,  this  work, 
delegated  to  the  American  Library  Association 
on  account  of  its  eminent  fitness  for  it,  is  a  com- 
plement without  which  the  activities  of  the  com- 
missions would  be  far  from  complete.  That 
the  public  has  realized  this  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  when,  in  September,  1917,  they  were  asked 
for  a  million  dollars  with  which  to  buy  books 
and  build  camp-libraries,  they  subscribed  over  a 
million  and  a  half  dollars. 

Burton  E.  Stevenson,  well-known  author  and 
librarian  at  Camp  Sherman,  sums  up  the  pur- 
pose and  spirit  of  the  work  exactly  when  he 
says: 

11  Camp-library  service  has  been  established 
with  just  one  purpose,  that  is,  to  help  win  the 
war.  There  are  three  ways  in  which  it  can 
help:  first,  by  helping  to  maintain  the  morale 
of  the  men  by  providing  them  with  interesting 
and  entertaining  reading-matter  to  help  tide 

85 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

over  the  moments  of  loneliness  and  depression 
that  come  to  everyone;  second,  by  helping  to 
educate  them  concerning  the  causes  and  pur- 
poses of  the  war,  and  to  make  them  realize  that 
they  are  not  fighting  France's  fight,  England's 
fight,  or  Italy's  fight,  but  America's  fight;  that 
it  is  not  Belgium  or  England  or  France  that 
Germany  is  seeking  to  destroy,  but  the  ideals 
and  principles  that  form  the  foundation  stones 
of  this  American  Republic;  and  third,  by  pro- 
viding the  men  with  special  technical  books 
along  their  several  lines,  thus  making  them  bet- 
ter and  more  efficient  soldiers." 

At  this  writing  there  are  thirty-three  library 
buildings  which  have  been  erected  with  the 
$320,000  given  by  the  Carnegie  Corporation  for 
the  purpose.  The  one  at  the  Great  Lakes  Naval 
Training  Station  was  paid  for  by  an  anonymous 
gift  of  $10,000.  At  least  two  more  are  in  pros- 
pect. They  are  roomy,  wooden  buildings  about 
one  hundred  feet  long  and  forty  feet  in  width, 
and,  as  they  were  designed  by  a  library  archi- 
tect, they  are  well  adapted  to  their  purpose. 
They  are  comfortable,  too,  and,  better  than  that, 

86 


oc 

— 
E 


WHAT  THEY  BEAD— AND  WHY 

a  spirit  of  helpfulness  and  hospitality  is  pres- 
ent at  all  times. 

"The  more  at  home  the  men  feel,  the  better 
pleased  I  am,"  said  one  of  the  librarians  to 
me. 

"Do  you  prohibit  smoking  in  the  building!" 
I  asked. 

"Certainly  not,"  he  replied.  "Why  should 
I?  This  is  a  library  for  men,  a  special  kind  of 
a  library,  and  its  informality  widens  its  sphere 
of  usefulness." 

These  libraries  are  conducted  on  a  plan  simi- 
lar to  those  in  towns,  but  there  are  variations 
that  promote  a  freer  use  and  a  more  widespread 
circulation  of  the  books.  Besides  the  central 
building  in  each  camp,  branches  are  maintained 
at  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  K.  of  C.  huts,  in  the  Post 
Exchanges,  at  the  base  hospital,  and  at  other 
convenient  points.  At  these  branches  the  sol- 
diers can  get  books  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or 
evening,  and  they  are  so  arranged  that  they 
can  change  their  books  by  the  "honor  system," 
merely  a  matter  of  leaving  a  memorandum  on 
the  book-card. 

89 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

There  is  hardly  any  more  formality  at  the 
library  building  itself.  The  librarian  presides 
at  the  desk,  helps  the  men  select  suitable  read- 
ing-matter, or  attends  to  the  hundred  and  one 
details  that  in  civilian  affairs  would  be  given 
to  a  clerk  to  handle.  For  library  work  in  the 
camps  is  no  sinecure.  Except  for  those  who 
can  afford  to  give  their  services,  the  librarian- 
in-chief  receives  a  salary  of  only  $1200  a  year, 
and  he  is  on  duty  nearly  all  of  the  time,  as 
are  also  his  assistants.  Their  sleeping  apart- 
ments are  in  one  end  of  the  building  in  which 
they  work. 

In  the  number  of  books  circulated,  fiction 
holds  the  first  place.  That  is  natural.  A  good 
story  helps  to  tide  over  the  unoccupied  mo- 
ments, when  the  stoutest  heart  is  apt  to  sink. 
But  running  fiction  a  close  second  are  books  of 
pure  and  applied  science.  Men  are  being  called 
to  unaccustomed  tasks,  and  that  they  may  be 
the  better  fitted  for  them,  they  are  doing  a  vast 
amount  of  studying  and  "reading  up."  Books 
on  various  kinds  of  machinery,  gasoline- 
engines,  aeroplanes,  electricity,  and  chemistry 

90 


WHAT  THEY  BEAD— AND  WHY 

are  in  constant  demand,  and  any  book  not  on 
the  shelves  that  is  really  needed  is  provided  by 
actual  purchase. 

Among  the  books  in  one  day's  circulation  at 
Camp  Meade  the  following  subjects  were  rep- 
resented: French  history,  mechanics,  topog- 
raphy and  strategy  in  war,  self-propelled 
vehicles,  hand-grenades,  field-entrenchments, 
bridges,  chemistry,  physics,  astronomy,  ge- 
ology, hydraulics,  electricity,  medieval  history, 
civil  engineering,  geography,  American  history, 
surveying,  materials  of  construction,  general 
history,  masonry  and  concrete. 

The  training  camp  of  to-day,  in  fact,  is  not 
essentially  different  from  a  big  university,  but 
the  men  work  and  study  a  good  deal  harder  in 
the  training  camps  than  they  would  in  a  uni- 
versity. This  war  is  a  highly  specialized  affair. 
It  is  a  modern  science  which  men  must  learn  by 
studious  application  to  the  problems  of  drill 
and  trench,  and  so  they  acquire  the  habit  of 
study  and  close  application.  Army  life  to-day, 
and  navy  life,  too,  for  that  matter,  furnishes 
a  tremendous  incentive  to  study,  and  the  en- 

91 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

thusiasm  with  which  it  is  taken  advantage  of  is 
an  encouraging  sign  for  the  future. 

One  of  the  librarians  wrote  to  headquarters : 
''We  want  all  kinds  of  engineering  hand-books, 
mechanics  hand-books,  books  on  sanitary  engi- 
neering, and  books  on  all  branches  of  the  serv- 
ice. They  cannot  be  too  technical  to  suit  the 
men.  You  will  be  interested  to  know  how 
quickly  the  newly-purchased  books  are  snapped 
up.  Of  the  six  copies  of  Thompson's  "Elec- 
tricity," four  are  out  now,  and  they  were  out 
within  a  week  after  they  were  ready." 

A  rather  amusing  incident  is  told  by  Mr.  Bur- 
ton Stevenson  to  indicate  the  high  standard  re- 
quired by  the  soldiers. 

"The  system  of  book-requests  that  has  been 
installed  at  many  of  the  camp  libraries,"  he 
says,  "has  rendered  valuable  service — aside 
from  its  immediate  function  of  getting  the  books 
into  the  hands  of  those  who  want  them — in 
giving  accurate  information  as  to  the  books 
really  in  demand.  Many  of  them  are,  of  course, 
for  books  of  the  lighter  and  more  popular  type 
—juveniles,  to  all  intents  and  purposes — but  at 

92 


WHAT  THEY  READ— AND  WHY 

the  other  extreme  was  the  request  of  a  man  for 
a  book  on  motors.  He  was  shown  the  best  and 
most  advanced  book  the  librarian  possessed. 

"  'Why,  I  made  the  drawings  for  that  book,' 
he  said,  'I  want  something  better  than  that.'  " 

Another  phase  of  the  soldiers'  reading  is 
illustrated  by  a  private  in  a  Texas  camp  who 
made  a  request  for  books  on  intensive  agricul- 
ture. The  librarian  was  interested  in  men  first 
and  books  afterward,  so  he  drew  him  out  on  the 
subject  of  his  preference  in  reading. 

"It  's  this  way,"  the  man  said.  "I  'm  a 
farmer.  My  dad  has  a  truck-farm  just  outside 
of  Houston,  and  he  sent  me  to  agricultural 
school  to  learn  the  up-to-date  methods.  I  Ve 
simply  got  to  read  these  things  and  keep  abreast 
of  the  times,  so  that  when  I  get  through  sol- 
diering I  '11  know  how  to  handle  a  cultivator. 
And  say,  have  you  got  David  Grayson's  'Ad- 
ventures in  Contentment'?" 

At  Camp  Johnston,  near  Jacksonville,  Flor- 
ida, where  there  are  stationed  about  twenty-five 
thousand  men,  all  of  whom  are  connected  with 
the  Quartermaster's  Corps,  the  camp  library  is 

93 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

of  special  interest.  Its  book-catalogue  looks 
like  that  of  a  university,  for  the  books  are  more 
largely  scientific  and  practical  than  in  any  other 
camp.  Besides  technical  topics  like  mechanical 
and  civil  engineering,  the  books  include  such 
subjects  as  accounting,  the  making  and  repair- 
ing of  various  sorts  of  equipment,  care  of 
horses,  transportation,  and  the  like. 

The  growth  of  the  reading  habit  among  sol- 
diers and  sailors  has  brought  to  light  an  inter- 
esting contradiction  to  the  generally  accepted 
theory  that  among  a  group  of  individuals  the 
leveling  process  is  a  leveling  downward.  The 
men  in  camp  who  are  readers  stimulate  by  their 
example  the  interest  of  those  who  are  not. 

"Have  you  read  this  story?"  asks  Private 
X of  Private  Y . 

*  *  Naw, '  *  replied  Private  Y-  — ;  "  I  never  read 
a  book  through  in  me  life." 

"Well,  y'oughta  read  this  one.  It  's  better 'n 
any  movie-show  y'  ever  saw;  it  's  a  bear!" 

Thus  does  Private  Y get  an  incentive  to 

taste  the  joys  of  literature.  There  is  a  tend- 
ency toward  a  leveling  upward. 

94 


WHAT  THEY  EEAD— AND  WHY 

Aside  from  technical  subjects,  other  infor- 
mational subjects  that  are  popular  in  camp  in- 
clude those  on  travel,  especially  in  France,  his- 
tories of  France,  Germany,  and  the  United 
States,  and  books  dealing  with  the  war.  Among 
the  last  named  are  those  that  make  clear  the 
causes  and  issues  of  the  war — President  Wil- 
son's works  are  much  read — and  narratives  of 
personal  experiences.  Empey's  ''Over  the 
Top"  is,  I  am  told,  the  most  popular  book  in 
the  army,  and  ex- Ambassador  Gerard's  "My 
Four  Years  in  Germany"  is  also  in  great  de- 
mand. 

Poetry  has  a  considerable  circulation  in  the 
camps,  from  Keats  and  Shelley  to  anthologies 
of  old  favorites  like  "Heart  Throbs."  One 
man  will  request  a  volume  of  Shakespeare  and 
another  the  very  modern  poems  of  Eobert  Serv- 
ice ;  and,  thanks  to  the  generosity  of  the  Ameri- 
can public,  these  requirements  can  generally  be 
met. 

The  men,  as  a  rule,  like  their  fiction  to  be  ex- 
citing. Detective  stories,  tales  of  adventure, 
and  thrilling  love-stories  are  read  until  they  are 

95 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

dog-eared.  Thus,  Jack  London,  Rudyard  Kip- 
ling, Edgar  Allan  Poe,  Rider  Haggard,  and 
Alexander  Dumas,  as  well  as  0.  Henry,  Harold 
Bell  Wright,  and  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim  are 
among  the  favorite  authors  in  camp.  Curiously 
enough,  there  is  quite  a  steady  demand  for  boys' 
books.  Requests  for  juveniles  generally  come 
from  men  whose  educational  advantages  have 
been  retarded.  The  books  are  easy  to  read,  and 
many  of  them  are  highly  entertaining.  Some, 
like  "Huckleberry  Finn,"  are  classics  as  well. 
Most  of  the  fiction  has  been  supplied  by  gifts, 
and  the  majority  of  it  is  of  a  surprisingly  high 
quality.  When  the  appeal  for  books  for  the  sol- 
diers and  sailors  came,  there  was,  of  course,  a 
certain  number  of  people  who  considered  it  a 
heaven-born  opportunity  to  unload  all  the  unde- 
sirable books  in  their  libraries.  And  so,  among 
the  half -million  or  so  volumes  that  were  at  first 
contributed,  there  was  a  choice  collection  of 
school-readers  half  a  century  old,  annual  reports 
of  cattle-breeders'  associations,  files  of  under- 
takers' trade  papers,  copies  of  the  "Elsie" 
books,  and  volume  after  volume  of  salacious 

96 


Special  cases  for  the  shipment  of  books  to  our  men  overseas 


WHAT  THEY  BEAD— AND  WHY 

fiction  as  offensive  as  a  German  minenwerfer 
bomb.  Teutonic  efficiency  also  succeeded  in 
placing  books  of  propaganda  in  the  receiving 
stations,  but  these,  as  well  as  the  foregoing,  did 
not  reach  the  camps. 

In  the  basement  beneath  the  dome  of  the  Con- 
gressional Library  at  Washington  I  had  an  op- 
portunity to  examine  some  hundreds  of  contrib- 
uted books  that  had  been  made  ready  to  ship 
to  one  of  the  camps.  The  librarian  in  charge 
told  me  that  they  were  characteristic.  They  in- 
cluded whole  sets  of  encyclopedias  in  good  con- 
dition, excellent  editions  of  the  classics,  and  a 
preponderance  of  the  better  sort  of  present-day 
fiction.  Scientific  books  were  in  the  minority; 
these  have  to  be  provided  mainly  by  special 
purchase.  Young  women  connected  with  the 
library  were  working  evenings  to  get  these 
books  ready  for  the  soldiers,  donating  their 
services. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  only  of  libraries  in  the 
training  camps,  but  that  is  not  to  say  that  the 
work  ends  there.  It  extends  to  scores  of 
smaller  posts  and  to  innumerable  warships, 

99 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

patrol-vessels,  and  transports.  Down  near  the 
Hoboken  water-front,  where  the  ships  that  were 
German  sail  from  docks  that  were  German  after 
being  loaded  with  soldiers  who  are  American, 
there  are  three  saloons  that  suddenly  lost  their 
usefulness  when  war  was  declared.  To-day 
those  erstwhile  places  of  entertainment  are  the 
scenes  of  well-ordered  activity,  for  there  the 
American  Library  Association  has  established 
a  despatch-station  from  which  books  are  sent 
on  board  the  ships  that  are  going  to  France. 
A  similar  despatch-office  has  been  established  at 
Newport  News  in  a  building  constructed  for  the 
purpose.  These  despatch-offices  are  to  handle 
the  bulk  of  the  overseas  shipments,  including 
those  to  the  American  naval  bases  abroad. 

The  Hoboken  office  looks  like  the  shipping- 
room  of  a  big  publishing  house  that  is  doing  a 
land-office  business.  Cases  of  uniform  size, 
each  holding  fifty  books,  are  filled  with  a  well- 
rounded  selection  of  volumes  and  put  aboard 
the  ships.  They  are  marked  "On  Deck'*  so 
that  they  will  not  be  stowed  in  the  hold,  and 
each  one  is  so  fitted  with  bolts  that  when  there 

100 


WHAT  THEY  READ— AND  WHY 

are  several,  they  can  be  fastened  together  in  the 
form  of  a  bookcase.  On  the  voyage  they  are 
opened  and  read.  When  the  ship  docks,  the 
covers  are  screwed  on  again  and  the  boxes 
turned  over  to  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Bed  Cross, 
the  Salvation  Army,  and  the  army  chaplains  for 
distribution  as  needed,  all  under  general  direc- 
tion of  representatives  of  the  Library  Associa- 
tion itself,  already  in  France  for  the  purpose. 
Enclosed  in  each  box  is  the  following  letter : 

TO  THE  ONE  IN  CHARGE: 

This  box  can  be  used  as  a  bookcase.     It  will  be   * 
most  convenient  to  leave  the  books  in  it,  saving  the 
front  and  screws  for  use  when  returning  the  books  to 
the  source  of  supply. 

Some  one  should  be  appointed  to  take  charge  of 
the  books  and  to  issue  them  to  borrowers,  though  he 
need  not  be  held  to  a  strict  accountability  for  the  loss 
of  some  of  the  volumes.  They  should,  however,  be 
looked  after  as  carefully  as  circumstances  permit. 
The  charging-card  inside  the  back  cover  will  help 
greatly  in  this.  "When  a  book  is  taken  away,  the 
borrower  should  take  the  card  from  the  pocket  inside 
the  back  cover,  write  on  it  in  the  spaces  provided  the 
date  and  his  name  (and  when  necessary  his  company 
and  regiment),  and  deposit  the  card  in  a  receptacle 

101 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

provided  for  that  purpose.  It  will  save  trouble  if 
the  book-cards  of  the  books  in  use  are  kept  in  alpha- 
betical order,  according  to  the  authors'  names. 

Before  a  book  is  returned  to  the  case  its  card  must 
be  replaced  in  the  pocket,  so  that  no  charge  may 
remain  against  a  man  who  has  brought  his  book  back. 
It  will  be  well  to  explain  this  simple  arrangement  to 
the  men  who  have  access  to  these  volumes. 

When  this  box  of  books  is  no  longer  of  use  here, 
screw  on  the  front  cover  and  return  to  the  source  of 
supply  (for  example,  the  nearest  Y.  M.  C.  A.  or 
Knights  of  Columbus  Headquarters)  with  a  request 
for  others. 

AMERICAN    LIBRARY    ASSOCIATION 

WAR  SERVICE  COMMITTEE 

Thus  it  can  be  seen  that  the  service  is  without 
any  "red  tape'*  and  is  designed  to  meet  the 
widest  possible  requirements.  Some  of  these 
books  will  go  to  the  hospitals,  and  even  to  the 
trench  dugouts.  Probably  thousands  will  be 
lost,  and  it  is  not  expected  that  any  will  be  re- 
turned to  this  country.  But  they  will  have 
served  their  purpose :  they  will  have  saved  lives, 
and  they  will  have  made  better  soldiers  and 
sailors. 


102 


CHAPTER  VI 

ENTEETAINMENT    IN    CAMP 

A  CERTAIN  general  in  a  southern  canton- 
ment reported  that  covering  a  period  of 
three  weeks,  while  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  men 
could  have  had  leave  from  the  camp,  only  thirty 
per  cent,  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege. 
The  meaning  of  this  is  clear:  that  camp  was 
more  attractive  than  the  adjacent  towns.  The 
boys  knew  there  would  be  more  doing,  at  less 
cost,  right  in  their  own  Liberty  Theater,  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  K.  of  C.  bungalows,  and  even  in 
the  barracks,  than  in  any  of  the  communities 
nearby. 

Although  the  camp  communities  of  the  coun- 
try are  doing  wonders  in  entertaining  men  on 
leave,  nevertheless  Uncle  Sam,  like  many  an- 
other wise  guardian,  began  by  making  home  at- 
tractive for  his  nephews.  Working  through  the 

103 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

War  Department  Commission  on  Training 
Camp  Activities,  he  provided  each  of  the  sixteen 
National  Army  camps  with  a  theater  having  a 
seating  capacity  of  three  thousand  and  a  stage 
accommodating  the  scenery  of  plays  classed  as 
4 'Broadway  productions."  These  playhouses 
are  built  of  wood,  but  they  have  been  con- 
structed along  modern  lines  and  embody  every 
detail  that  makes  for  quick  and  easy  emptying 
in  case  of  fire.  There  is  no  balcony,  except  in 
the  case  of  one  theater,  the  aisles  and  spaces  be- 
tween the  rows  of  seats  are  wide,  and  the  exits 
are  many.  There  are  real  footlights,  dressing- 
rooms  with  running  hot  and  cold  water,  a  com- 
plete equipment  of  tackle  for  handling  drops, 
flies,  and  wings,  and  an  outfit  of  regulation 
"sets,"  so  that  any  ordinary  play  may  be 
staged  without  extra  scenery  or  properties.  In 
the  winter  both  auditorium  and  stage  are 
warmed  by  large  heaters. 

The  doors  open  early,  but  not  before  a  long 
queue  of  soldiers  has  collected  at  the  entrance, 
waiting  for  first  choice  of  the  unreserved  seats. 
They  are  an  orderly  crowd,  although  an  expect- 

104 


ENTERTAINMENT  IN  CAMP 

ant  one,  and  in  the  glare  of  the  big  electric  sign 
in  front  of  the  theater  there  is  enough  life  and 
action  to  remind  a  New  York  soldier  of  the  Hip- 
podrome just  before  a  Saturday  night  perform- 
ance. One  element  is  lacking,  however,  and  that 
is  the  ticket  speculators.  When  the  doors  are 
opened  you  will  notice  that  the  men  pay  their 
way  in  with  coupons  from  little  books,  the  cele- 
brated "Smileage  Books,"  by  virtue  of  which 
one  may  provide  his  soldier  friend  with  from 
four  to  twenty  admissions  to  the  shows  that 
visit  the  camps.  Those  who  have  invested  their 
dollar  or  their  five  dollars  in  ' '  smileage ' '  would 
wish  no  better  return  than  to  see  the  final  test  of 
its  efficacy  at  one  of  the  Liberty  Theaters. 

While  the  audience  is  being  seated  by  the  sol- 
diers detailed  as  ushers,  the  regimental  band 
that  will  officiate  as  orchestra  stops  in  front  of 
the  theater  on  its  way  in  and  plays  two  or  three 
selections  just  by  way  of  livening  up  the  occa- 
sion. Vociferous  applause  greets  them  as  they 
file  in  and  take  their  places  in  the  orchestra  pit. 
It  is  quite  like  a  small-town  theater-gathering. 

The  reserved  seats  begin  to  fill  up.  Officers 
105 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

arrive,  the  band  plays  a  rousing  overture,  and 
the  curtain  rises.  After  that  it  is  hard  for  a 
soldier  to  realize  that  he  is  in  camp,  which  is  the 
exact  effect  aimed  at  by  the  Commission  in  de- 
veloping the  Liberty  Theater  idea. 

Tension  such  as  the  fighter  experiences  needs 
relaxing  just  as  surely  as  a  bow  needs  to  be  un- 
strung when  it  is  not  in  use.  Equally  certain  is 
it  that  relaxation  in  some  form  will  be  found 
by  these  men.  The  theater  is  safe,  inexpensive, 
and  uplifting.  Does  it  need  any  further  justi- 
fication as  a  promoter  of  morale,  and,  in  its  last 
analysis,  fighting  efficiency  T 

But  better  than  merely  giving  the  boy  a  good 
time  is  the  other  role  played  by  the  Liberty 
Theater.  Helping  the  boys  to  make  their  own 
good  times  is  a  part  of  their  field  of  usefulness. 
They  are  the  town-halls  of  these  military  com- 
munities, and  as  such  they  serve  for  a  variety 
of  uses.  In  many  a  regiment  there  is  talent 
enough,  professional  and  amateur,  from  which 
to  organize  and  produce  a  high-class  minstrel 
show  or  other  entertainment,  and  these  can  be 
held  in  the  theater.  The  Commission  is  secur- 

106 


ENTERTAINMENT  IN  CAMP 

ing  for  each  Liberty  Theater  a  man  who  has  had 
experience  in  coaching  amateur  dramatics,  pre- 
ferably one  who  has  directed  productions  in 
men's  colleges.  He  will  mix  with  the  men,  fer- 
ret out  talent,  both  latent  and  developed,  and 
keep  the  community  interest  at  a  high  point. 
By  all  this  the  Commission  is  trying  to  make  the 
soldiers  self-amusing,  so  that  when  they  get  to 
France  and  have  few  or  no  facilities  for  thea- 
tricals they  will  be  able  to  entertain  themselves. 
In  fact,  both  the  theater  managers  and  dramatic 
coaches  are  charged  with  the  responsibility  of 
developing  leaders  for  this  work  among  the  men 
themselves.  In  addition  to  dramatics,  the  more 
important  athletic  exhibitions,  lectures,  and 
moving-picture  shows  are  given  there.  Big 
"sing-songs,"  with  the  song-coach  leading  from 
the  stage  and  three  thousand  performers  seated 
in  the  auditorium,  are  another  phase  of  its  util- 
ity. It  is,  in  fact,  a  civic  center  of  the  camp. 

Provision  is  being  made  as  rapidly  as  possible 
for  entertainments  of  various  kinds  at  naval 
training  stations  and  smaller  camps.  At  every 
one  there  are  "movies,"  and  each  Liberty  Thea- 

107 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

ter  is  also  equipped  with  a  projection-machine. 
The  best  and  latest  "feature  films"  procurable 
are  run,  and  they  always  draw  a  crowd,  for  al- 
though they  are  carefully  censored,  the  censor- 
ship has  been  exercised  merely  on  the  maudlin, 
without  interfering  with  red-blooded  action, 
wholesome  sentiment,  and  good  humor. 

Vaudeville  is  another  form  of  entertainment 
popular  at  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  K.  of  C.  bunga- 
lows. It  is  supplied  from  outside  sources  and 
by  the  men  themselves,  the  latter  being  the  more 
enjoyable  because  the  men  know  better  what 
will  "get  across."  There  is  a  good  deal  of  pro- 
fessional talent  in  the  ranks,  so  that  with  their 
coaching  and  the  natural  ability  that  it  brings 
out  among  the  men,  the  entertainments  pro- 
duced are  often  of  a  high  order. 

Music  plays  an  important  part  in  these  pro- 
ductions. There  are  excellent  singers  in  every 
camp  and  many  musicians  who  do  not  play  in 
the  bands.  A  Knights  of  Columbus  secretary 
told  me  of  a  negro  trooper  who  teased  melody 
out  of  a  cigar-box  fiddle  with  one  string,  and  of 
another  in  his  company  who  drummed  amaz- 

108 


ENTERTAINMENT  IN  CAMP 

ingly  with  thimbled  fingers  on  an  old  wash- 
board. One  evening  an  officer  who  was  pass- 
ing the  barracks  beheld  a  negro  on  guard-duty, 
his  gun  over  his  shoulder,  shuffling  up  and  down 
in  jig-time.  From  inside  came  the  sound  of  a 
strange  barbaric  tune  played  with  a  most  pro- 
vocative syncopation.  The  officer  stopped  to 
watch.  Finally  the  guard  saw  him.  Overcome 
with  mortification,  he  managed  to  salute. 
"Boss,"  he  said,  "it  's  jest  natchelly  impossible 
for  ma  feet  to  behave  when  I  hears  that  music 
playin'."  Such  talent  as  this  does  not  go  to 
waste  when  an  entertainment  is  being  arranged. 
Unique  among  the  cantonments  in  a  number 
of  ways  is  Camp  Funston  at  Fort  Riley,  Kan- 
sas. With  the  largest  number  of  troops  in  any 
of  the  camps,  it  is  located  at  a  considerable  dis- 
tance from  any  town  large  enough  to  assimilate 
the  men  on  leave.  Owing  to  this  condition  the 
Commission  approved  the  granting  of  conces- 
sions to  private  amusement  enterprises  in  a  spe- 
cial zone  within  the  camp.  There  are  four 
blocks  of  establishments  like  those  to  which  sol- 
diers resort  when  they  go  to  town,  and  as  they 

109 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

are  all  under  Government  supervision,  their 
superiority  is  apparent.  There  are  three  thea- 
ters, including  a  motion-picture  house  seating 
1500,  a  stock-company  theater  with  a  capacity 
of  2000,  and  the  Liberty  Theater.  The  billiard 
and  pool  hall  has  150  tables,  and  it  is  not  uncom- 
mon for  all  of  them  to  be  in  use  at  once.  There 
are  restaurants,  soda-fountains,  cigar-stores, 
and  even  a  bank;  and  there  are  a  dozen  other 
kinds  of  shops,  among  them  a  meat  market 
where  the  soldiers  can  buy  a  slice  of  ham  for  a 
sandwich  or  a  whole  steer  for  a  barbecue.  Each 
of  these  features  is  a  phase  of  the  system  for 
keeping  men  fit.  They  are  linked  thereby  to 
the  concerns  of  the  civilian  world  and  are  pro- 
vided with  the  personal  comforts  that  are  not  a 
part  of  military  equipment. 

Best  of  all  in  the  whole  program  of  enter- 
tainment is  the  opportunity  offered  for  soldiers 
and  sailors  to  express  themselves  in  the  medi- 
ums to  which  they  have  been  accustomed,  or  in 
something  better.  The  most  successful  way  of 
entertaining  them  is  by  giving  them  the  means 
to  entertain  themselves. 

110 


CHAPTER  VII 

HOSTESS   HOUSES 

A  LITTLE  gray-haired  woman  came  up  to 
the  main  desk  in  one  of  the  great,  brown, 
home-like  buildings  known  as  Hostess  Houses. 

"I  want  to  tell  you,"  she  said  to  the  secre- 
tary, "how  different  my  visit  to-day  has  been 
from  the  last  one.  A  week  or  so  before  this 
house  was  opened  my  daughter  and  I  came  down 
to  camp  and  brought  the  babies  to  see  their 
father." 

The  young  woman  at  the  desk  looked  sym- 
pathetic. She  knew  what  that  meant. 

"Well,"  continued  the  visitor,  "it  was  rain- 
ing, too,  and  we  were  dumped  off  at  the  bus  sta- 
tion in  a  sea  of  mud.  We  hadn't  the  slightest 
idea  how  to  find  Henry.  Finally  a  soldier  di- 
rected us  to  his  regimental  headquarters,  and 
we  wandered  about  through  mud  and  rain  till 

111 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

we  found  his  company.  There  we  were  told 
that  he  was  on  duty  and  could  not  see  us.  So 
for  two  hours  we  sat  on  an  old  wet  crackerbox 
outside  the  barracks.  The  babies  were  getting 
more  tired  and  cross  every  minute.  After 
about  three  hours  Henry  was  relieved  from 
duty,  and  we  had  a  chance  to  talk  with  him  for 
about  fifteen  minutes,  but  we  were  so  exhausted 
and  wet  and  cold  that  you  can  imagine  it  was  n  't 
much  fun." 

"It  was  quite  different  to-day,  wasn't  it!" 
suggested  the  secretary. 

"I  should  say  it  was!  Fifteen  minutes  after 
we  got  off  the  train  we  stepped  inside  this  splen- 
did, home-like  building  with  its  cheerful  wel- 
come and  its  air  of  friendliness.  My  son  was 
notified  of  our  arrival  by  telephone  and  was  with 
us  within  a  few  minutes.  It  was  a  wonderful 
afternoon.  If  you  did  nothing  but  furnish  a 
place  for  visitors  to  sit,  you  would  be  doing  a 
splendid  piece  of  work,  but  you  seem  to  have 
thought  of  everything,  even  toys  for  the  chil- 
dren to  play  with." 

This  is  one  instance  among  many  that  serve  to 
112 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

show  how  important  a  place  in  the  work  of  the 
Commissions  on  Training  Camp  Activities  is 
being  filled  by  the  Hostess  Houses.  They  are 
solving  satisfactorily  one  of  the  most  difficult 
problems  they  had  to  meet — what  to  do  with 
the  women.  Women  will  flock  to  the  training 
camps.  They  come  by  the  thousands.  Many 
of  them  are  from  the  country  and  small  towns, 
and  some  of  them  have  never  been  away  from 
home  before.  Few  of  them  have  any  concep- 
tion of  camp  conditions.  They  expect  to  go  out 
and  find  the  man  they  have  come  to  visit  by  ask- 
ing the  first  person  they  meet  where  he  is,  and, 
having  found  him,  to  stay  with  him  for  the 
length  of  their  visit  in  camp.  Wives  spend 
their  last  cent  traveling  to  camp,  often  with 
several  small  children  to  look  after  and  loaded 
down  with  baskets  of  food  from  home,  only  to 
find  that  their  husbands  have  already  gone.  A 
mother  will  learn  of  her  son's  serious  illness  in 
a  camp-hospital  halfway  across  the  country  and 
rush  frantically  to  him,  arriving  in  a  state  of  ex- 
haustion, to  discover  that  the  nearest  stopping- 
place  is  ten  miles  from  camp.  Foolish  young 

113 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

girls,  filled  with  the  hysteria  of  wartime  and 
eager  to  see  and  talk  with  the  boys  who  are 
soon  to  go  into  battle,  forget  their  normal  pru- 
dence and  rush  to  the  camps  without  any  idea 
of  what  they  are  going  to  do  when  they  get 
there. 

The  urgency  of  the  situation  was  brought  to 
the  attention  of  the  War  Council  of  the  Young 
Women's  Christian  Association  when  it  assem- 
bled in  the  summer  of  1917,  for  this  society  had 
been  intimately  concerned  with  safeguarding 
the  interests  of  women  during  more  than  fifty 
years  of  national  peace.  The  War  Council, 
numbering  one  hundred  members,  was  formed 
to  protect  all  women  affected  by  the  war.  They 
signified  their  willingness  to  cooperate  with  the 
commissions  by  opening  Hostess  Houses  within 
camps  where  they  were  desired  by  the  com- 
manding officers. 

Work  similar  to  that  done  through  the  Hos- 
tess House  had  been  carried  on  successfully  by 
the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  at  the  San  Francisco  Exposi- 
tion, where  it  had  been  found  to  fill  a  legitimate 
place.  To  their  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  women- 

114 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

\ 

visitors  there,  in  fact,  was  attributable  much 
of  the  high  moral  tone  of  the  exposition.  In  ad- 
dition to  this  work,  they  maintained  a  building 
exclusively  for  the  comfort  and  pleasure  of  the 
women  who  took  part  in  the  exposition.  It  was 
the  first  time,  perhaps,  that  the  well-being  of 
women-jugglers  and  acrobats,  snake-charmers, 
freaks,  and  the  fortune-tellers  of  a  show  had 
received  serious  consideration. 

A  year  ago  last  summer,  during  the  Mexican 
trouble,  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  sent  women  to  San  An- 
tonio and  El  Paso,  and  to  Douglas,  Arizona,  to 
meet  abnormal  social  conditions  among  the 
thousands  of  young  girls  who  flocked  there.  In 
Douglas,  for  instance,  a  town  of  less  than  twenty 
thousand  inhabitants,  they  found  girls  of  all 
races,  colors,  and  conditions.  Many  of  them 
could  not  speak  English.  Study  clubs,  gym- 
nasium classes,  and  social  organizations  were 
formed  among  them.  Any  branch  of  Y.  W.  C. 
A.  work  that  seemed  applicable  to  their  needs 
was  established  there.  Older  women  became  in- 
terested and  came  into  the  work,  and  the  activi- 
ties were  finally  broadened  out  to  appeal  to 

U5 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

women  of  all  ages.  One  of  the  women-workers 
there  told  me  that  she  had  enrolled  an  active 
member  one  hundred  and  eight  years  of  age  and 
another  only  eight  years  old. 

Since  they  had  successfully  met  emergencies 
such  as  these,  it  was  felt  that  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 
was  well  fitted  to  take  charge  of  similar  work 
within  the  camps.  Of  the  $5,000,000  fund  with 
which  they  began  their  wartime  activities,  $1,- 
500,000  was  appropriated  for  Hostess  Houses. 
There  are  about  seventy  of  these  buildings  al- 
ready in  operation.  Some  of  the  larger  canton- 
ments have  two,  or  even  three  where  the  num- 
ber of  negro  troops  makes  one  seem  desirable 
for  colored  women. 

When  from  thirty  thousand  to  sixty  thousand 
young  men  are  gathered  together  in  a  training 
camp  or  station,  where  discipline  of  necessity 
disregards  the  individual  and  where  each  man 
is  but  a  cog  in  the  machinery  of  warfare,  there 
is  nothing  on  earth  the  majority  of  them  want 
so  much  as  to  see  their  families  and  friends. 
Many  of  them  are  mere  boys,  especially  those 
who  have  volunteered  in  the  navy.  A  comfort  - 

116 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

able,  cheerful  spot  where  they  may  go  and  spend 
their  time  off  with  mothers,  wives,  or  sweet- 
hearts has  given  a  new  meaning  to  life  for 
them.  After  such  a  visit  the  boy  goes  back  to 
the  discipline  of  his  man-made  world  with  new 
courage  and  a  new  readiness  to  do  his  whole 
duty. 

The  Hostess  House  is  usually  built  near  the 
entrance  of  the  cantonment  or  training-station, 
and  is  placed  so  as  to  be  easily  accessible  to  visi- 
tors. The  buildings  are  like  large  bungalows 
and  are  a  decided  ornament  to  the  camps. 
They  vary  in  size  according  to  the  peculiar 
needs  of  the  camps,  but  their  general  architect- 
ural plans  are  similar.  Women-architects  have 
had  their  construction  in  charge  and  have 
striven  to  attain  the  utmost  degree  of  attractive- 
ness inside  and  out.  The  plan  for  the  building 
at  Camp  Gordon  was  entirely  redrawn  in  order 
to  save  three  fine  old  oak-trees.  The  main  fea- 
tures of  all  Hostess  Houses  are  also  much  the 
same.  Everywhere  the  very  heart  of  the  house 
is  the  big  chimney  in  the  middle  of  the  huge  liv- 
ing-room, where  in  a  double  fireplace  log-fires 

117 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

burn  when  they  are  needed.  There  is  a  parcel 
checking-room,  and  a  rest-room  for  women,  out 
of  which  opens  a  fully-equipped  nursery,  for 
many  babies  are  brought  to  see  their  soldier 
daddies.  A  cafeteria  serves  excellent  food  to 
all  who  arrive  hungry,  and  this  is  the  only  part 
of  the  service  for  which  any  charge  is  made. 
The  buildings  are  electric-lighted  and  steam- 
heated,  as  are  also  the  broad  sun-parlors, 
usually  extending  across  two  sides  of  the  build- 
ing. 

Some  of  the  women  from  the  Hostess  House 
meet  every  arriving  train,  to  make  sure  that  no 
woman  is  left  to  wander  about  the  camp  alone 
while  seeking  her  soldier.  With  the  "Travel- 
ers '  Aid, "  whom  the  Commissions  have  asked  to 
come  into  the  railroad  stations  near  the  camps, 
these  women  are  ready  to  render  any  assistance 
posssible  to  visitors  and  to  take  them  to  the 
Hostess  House. 

On  visiting  days  and  over  the  week-end  every 
quiet  corner  of  the  big,  attractive  living-room 
holds  its  soldier  with  his  girl,  its  man  with  his 

118 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

mother,  a  little  family  party,  or  a  chattering 
group  of  young  people.  The  settees  and  high- 
backed  chairs,  the  cushioned  rockers  and  divans 
are  filled  with  cozy  gossipers  drawn  up  around 
the  fireside.  They  linger  together,  these  men 
and  their  folks,  over  a  little  supper  brought 
from  home  and  spread  temptingly  on  one  of  the 
cafeteria  tables.  Some  one  at  the  piano  will  be 
playing  an  old  haunting  melody  or  a  cheerful 
tune  that  makes  a  cheerful  background  for  the 
conversation,  and  it  is  all  surprisingly  like  the 
gathering  together  of  a  big,  happy  family.  The 
ferns  and  potted  plants,  the  bright,  harmonious 
coloring  of  the  chintz  hangings,  and  bits  of  cop- 
per and  brass  lighten  and  brighten  and  lend  a 
glow  to  the  "mission"  interior  with  its  heavy- 
beamed  ceiling  and  its  substantial  furnishings. 
The  women  in  the  Hostess  Houses  are  not  only 
trained  to  meet  all  sorts  of  emergencies,  but 
are  sympathetic  and  tireless  in  the  mere  routine 
of  entertaining  visitors.  This  alert  personal 
interest,  with  never  a  suggestion  of  intrusion 
into  the  privacy  of  a  family  gathering,  accounts, 

121 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

I  believe,  as  much  as  the  inviting  interior  of 
these  houses  for  their  being  christened  "the 
home  spot  of  the  camp." 

Here  is  a  new  handling  of  the  human  equa- 
tion in  the  training  of  fighters,  a  matter  that  has 
always  been  the  concern  of  the  great  masters 
of  warfare,  but  which  has  never  before  been 
worked  out  to  this  degree.  It  cannot  fail  to 
have  a  salutary  effect  on  even  the  crudest  per- 
sonality that  comes  within  its  influence.  It 
helps  to  clarify  the  idea  and  the  ideals  of  de- 
mocracy, the  principles  for  which  these  men  of 
ours  are  fighting. 

One  evening  about  six  o'clock  I  saw  a  weary- 
looking  elderly  couple  sitting  near  the  front 
door  of  one  of  the  Hostess  Houses,  anxiously 
watching  every  man  in  uniform  who  appeared. 

"Is  there  anything  we  can  do  for  you?"  one 
of  the  women  finally  asked  them. 

"Well,  Miss,"  the  old  man  replied,  "we  wrote 
him  we  was  a-comin'  and  we  Ve  waited  here 
since  noon.  Finally  his  lieutenant  said  we  'd 
better  come  here  to  this  place,  and  he  would 
send  the  boy  on  over,  but  he  ain't  come  yet. 

122 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

We  '11  have  to  be  gettin'  on  back  now  before 
long  to  take  the  train." 

The  young  woman  went  to  the  telephone  and 
called  up  the  headquarters  of  the  man's  bat- 
talion. In  ten  minutes  the  door  burst  open  and 
a  very  boyish-looking  soldier  had  an  arm  around 
each  of  his  parents,  while  they  laughed  and 
wiped  their  eyes. 

Dozens  of  such  visits  are  arranged  on  visiting 
days  by  the  secretary  at  the  main  desk.  A 
young  mother  dragged  herself  wearily  into  one 
of  the  Hostess  Houses  and  sank  into  the  near- 
est chair. 

"I  Ve  come  to  show  my  baby  to  its  father," 
she  said.  "He  was  called  away  before  it  was 
born,  and  I  want  to  see  him  as  soon  as  possible." 

The  secretary  called  up  the  father's  regi- 
mental headquarters,  and  then  put  the  woman 
to  sleep  on  one  of  the  couches  in  the  rest-room. 
In  a  little  while  the  husband  came  dashing  eag- 
erly across  the  parade-ground  and  into  the 
room,  asking  for  his  wife  and  baby.  He  was 
led  to  the  rest-room  door,  and  the  little  family 
was  left  together. 

123 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

You  would  have  to  spend  a  day  in  a  Hostess 
House  to  get  an  idea  of  the  number  and  kind 
of  inquiries  that  reach  the  secretary's  desk, 
ranging  all  the  way  from  how  to  adopt  a  child 
to  where  a  young  officer  can  borrow  a  pair  of 
riding-breeches  for  his  girl.  At  the  Camp 
Lewis  house  the  average  number  of  visitors  is 
2500  a  day.  Within  two  weeks  12,604  people 
were  served  in  the  cafeteria,  2577  women  used 
the  rest-room,  218  children  were  placed  in  the 
nursery,  424  women  were  put  in  touch  with  their 
relatives  in  camp,  and  173  visitors  made  tele- 
phone calls. 

When  the  first  Hostess  House  was  started  at 
Plattsburg,  it  did  not  take  very  well  with  the 
army.  Some  of  the  older  officers  said  that  to 
have  women  in  the  camps  was  the  last  thing  they 
wanted.  It  appeared  like  an  attempt  to  bring 
feminine  influence  into  the  military  environment 
of  the  camp.  But  it  was  interesting  to  note 
how,  as  soon  as  one  house  was  in  operation,  the 
idea  spread  throughout  the  country,  until  now 
Mr.  Fosdick  frequently  receives  indignant  let- 
ters from  commanding  officers  who  say  they 

124 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

have  been  discriminated  against.  It  is  doubt- 
ful if  there  will  ever  again  be  a  United  States 
Army  Post  without  a  Hostess  House.  The  offi- 
cers who  at  first  said,  "Send  along  anything 
you  want  to,  but  keep  those  Hostess  Houses 
away,"  are  now  the  warmest  friends  of  the  idea. 
They  have  seen  how  the  buildings,  if  they  did 
nothing  else  whatever,  would  more  than  justify 
their  existence  by  furnishing  a  place  for  women 
who  come  to  visit  their  relatives  in  the  hospitals. 
A  rather  gruff-looking  captain  dropped  into 
the  Hostess  House  in  one  of  the  camps  just  to 
see  what  the  place  was  like.  He  was  shown 
over  the  house,  upstairs  and  down,  and  through 
the  bedrooms  and  the  emergency  sleeping-quar- 
ters with  its  long  row  of  cots  for  women  who 
might  be  stranded  in  camp.  He  finally  decided 
that  he  would  stay  to  lunch.  Afterward  he  sat 
by  the  fire  watching  various  family  groups. 
He  saw  a  mother  weep  for  joy  over  her  son's 
fine  appearance.  He  saw  a  young  couple  whis- 
pering together  in  a  cozy  corner,  half -hidden  by 
a  big  potted  plant.  A  quartet  had  brought  in 
their  stringed  instruments  and  were  strumming 

125 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

away  merrily  in  another  corner.  Laughter  and 
happiness  and  comfort  were  everywhere  visible. 
Finally  he  went  over  and  shook  hands  with  the 
hostess. 

"Madam,"  he  said,  "I  wasn't  much  for  this 
place  being  put  here,  but  now  I  see  what  it  is 
doing.  Some  day  you  will  wear  a  halo." 

The  houses  were  not  opened  with  any  idea  of 
furnishing  entertainments.  Parties  or  any  reg- 
ular programs,  it  was  considered,  would  inter- 
fere with  the  regular  hospitality.  It  was  not  at 
first  considered  desirable  to  have  music,  either. 
The  function  of  the  Hostess  House  was  simply 
to  furnish  a  bright  and  cheerful  home  spot,  but 
it  is  already  filling  many  more  needs  that  ex- 
isted. The  men  have  come  to  feel  in  a  sur- 
prising sort  of  way  that  the  Hostess  House  is 
their  exclusive  property.  They  know  that  they 
can  always  find  a  hearty  welcome  whenever  they 
have  a  free  hour  and  women  to  talk  with  them  if 
they  feel  lonely.  There  are  times  when  they 
like  to  go  there  and  unburden  their  hearts. 
There  are  other  times  when  they  simply  want 
to  sit  by  the  fire  and  read,  or  wish  to  play  a 

126 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

game  of  checkers  with  a  pal.  They  come  for  a 
cup  of  hot  coffee  and  a  sandwich.  "I  've  come 
over  to  take  a  look  at  you  all.  It  gives  me  cour- 
age for  my  exam,"  a  young  man  going  up  for 
his  commission  remarked  to  one  of  the  women. 
He  had  dropped  in  on  his  way  to  appear  before 
the  Examination  Board,  and  he  lingered  to  have 
something  to  eat.  An  hour  or  so  later  he  came 
joyfully  back  to  tell  the  good  news  that  he  had 
stood  the  physical  test  and  to  receive  congratu- 
lations. 

"And  it  's  all  due  to  the  way  I  come  over 
here  and  feed  up, ' '  he  laughingly  explained. 

The  Hostess  House  idea  is  stamped  "Made  in 
America,"  and  America  is  the  land  where 
women  are  partners,  not  chattels.  In  carrying 
this  atmosphere  of  chivalry  toward  women  into 
the  training  camps  of  the  army  and  navy,  the 
Government  is  fostering  one  of  the  basic  prin- 
ciples of  a  well-ordered  democracy — the  sanctity 
of  the  home. 

"Just  to  get  around  and  see  women,  you  don't 
know  what  it  means, ' '  I  heard  a  boy  remark  only 
the  other  day.  It  was  evidently  his  first  visit 

127 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

to  the  Hostess  House.  ' '  Can  I  stand  on  the  rug 
in  front  of  the  fireplace!"  he  asked.  "It  's  the 
first  time  I  Ve  seen  one  in  so  long  that  I  Ve  for- 
gotten the  feel  of  it  under  my  feet."  He  finally 
exclaimed  to  the  boy  who  was  evidently  showing 
him  around:  "Gosh,  ain't  it  all  nice  and  re- 
fined! I  'm  coming  here  every  day." 

As  it  happened,  I  was  standing  near  them 
when  he  was  bashfully  led  to  the  door  of  the 
nursery.  His  gaze  went  in  amazement  from  the 
toys  ranged  around  the  walls  to  the  little  pink 
quilts  folded  across  the  foot  of  the  beds. 

"I  'd  forgotten, "  he  said,  "that  there  was  any 
pink  in  the  world!" 

Home  is  coming  to  have  a  new  significance  to 
these  men  in  camps.  They  are  learning  how 
much  they  like  pink.  The  Hostess  House  is 
keeping  alive  a  love  of  the  finer  things  that  are 
sometimes  easily  lost. 

"I  guess  a  lot  of  us  would  be  awful  reckless 
if  it  wa'n't  for  you  people,"  a  young  soldier 
stopped  at  the  desk  to  say  on  his  way  out. 
"You  Ve  kep'  some  of  us  out  of  the  guard 
house." 

128 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

Groups  of  officers,  as  well,  drop  in  for  after- 
noon tea,  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  representatives  have 
an  occasional  big  luncheon-conference  in  the 
cafeteria.  It  is  a  democratic  place. 

Out  at  Fort  Benjamin  Harrison  one  hundred 
and  fifty  officers  arrived  in  camp  in  the  middle 
of  the  afternoon,  coming  on  a  train  that  did 
not  carry  a  diner.  They  were  too  late  for  mess, 
so  they  came  directly  to  the  Hostess  House. 
That  day.  all  the  help  had  quit,  rather  than  be 
vaccinated,  but  the  women  went  into  the  kitchen, 
and  those  men  were  sent  away  smiling,  with 
plenty  of  hot  coffee,  sandwiches,  and  ice-cream 
under  their  belts. 

"It  was  certainly  just  like  home  that  day!" 
one  of  the  women  exclaimed.  "And  you  know 
what  home  is  with  all  the  help  gone  and  un- 
expected visitors  arriving!" 

Music  is  coming  to  have  a  place  not  at  first 
planned  in  the  Hostess  Houses.  Each  one  is 
provided  with  a  piano  and  a  victrola,  and  the 
men  often  bring  their  own  banjos  and  ukeleles 
along  with  them.  At  Camp  Lewis  every  Satur- 
day afternoon  the  division  adjutant  details  a 

129 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

band  to  the  Hostess  House,  and  other  bands 
from  the  different  regiments  play  on  the  balcony 
three  times  a  week.  The  grand  piano  is  so 
much  appreciated  by  the  musicians  in  camp  that 
they  stand  in  line  for  the  opportunity  to  play  it. 
A  young  man  in  Camp  Jackson,  South  Car- 
olina, came  enthusiastically  to  the  Hostess 
House  with  an  idea.  He  had  discovered  a  num- 
ber of  men  in  his  company  with  fingers  that 
itched  for  the  touch  of  their  favorite  instru- 
ments. He  thought  that  in  many  homes  there 
would  be  mandolins,  guitars,  and  other  instru- 
ments that  had  been  relegated  to  dusty  attics 
after  "John"  or  "Mary"  had  left  home.  He 
wanted  the  women  to  help  him  find  these  instru- 
ments and  organize  an  orchestra.  He  was  put 
into  communication  with  a  lady  in  Columbia 
who  was  both  interested  and  resourceful,  and 
within  a  few  hours  the  nucleus  of  his  equipment 
had  been  collected.  It  consisted  of  a  piano,  gen- 
erously donated,  a  mandolin,  a  banjo,  and  a  gui- 
tar or  two.  These  men  do  not  count  on  a  long 
stay  in  camp,  but  when  they  go  to  the  front  they 
have  arranged  to  have  the  Hostess  House  take 

130 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

charge  of  the  instruments  until  another  orches- 
tra can  be  organized  in  that  company. 

The  demand  for  breakfast  in  some  of  the 
Hostess  Houses  has  been  so  great  that  the 
cafeteria  people  are  volunteering  to  do  double 
time  to  provide  it.  They  have  seen  the  keen 
pleasure  of  the  men  over  the  hot  cakes  and  cof- 
fee, ham  and  eggs.  They  come  by  hundreds  on 
Sunday  mornings,  and  there  is  always  a  number 
who,  for  one  reason  or  another,  do  not  have  to 
stand  reveille  during  the  week,  as  well  as  officers 
not  on  regular  duty. 

At  Camp  Gordon  a  shopping  service  was  in- 
augurated during  the  weeks  preceding  Christ- 
mas. The  inquiry  "What  shall  I  buy?"  came 
so  often  to  the  desk  from  men  who  had  a  limited 
amount  to  spend  on  presents  that  the  Hostess 
House  women  arranged  to  select  the  gifts. 
They  purchased  six  hundred  in  Atlanta,  them- 
selves furnishing  attractive  cards  to  accompany 
them,  and  attended  to  having  them  properly 
wrapped. 

I  think  that  the  attitude  of  mind  that  the  aver- 
age enlisted  man  is  acquiring  toward  the  Y.  W. 

131 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

C.  A.  is  illustrated  admirably  by  the  following 
incident.  Two  boys  came  to  the  Hostess  House 
with  the  problem  of  what  to  do  with  a  pal  just 
out  of  the  hospital  and  on  a  furlough.  He  had 
no  family,  and  did  not  know  where  to  go  or 
what  to  do.  They  had  advised  him  to  go  to 
town,  get  a  comfortable  room,  and  spend  his 
time  "taking  in  shows,"  to  keep  him  cheered 
up.  But  shows  did  not  seem  to  offer  any  partic- 
ular attraction  for  him  in  his  condition  of  gen- 
eral depression.  They  put  the  matter  up  to  the 
women  in  charge,  who  went  to  town  and  found 
a  gentleman  and  his  wife  who  had  been  active  in 
the  community  work  for  enlisted  men.  They 
gladly  took  him  into  their  home  on  the  footing 
of  a  son,  and  nursed  him  back  to  strength  and 
cheerfulness.  He  came  back  to  camp  with  a 
warm  sense  of  having  ' '  folks ' '  of  his  own. 

"He  feels  that  you  women  have  saved  his  life 
by  finding  him  that  fine  place  to  go,"  his  pals  re- 
ported, "and  he  's  all  the  time  trying  to  find 
some  way  to  show  you  how  grateful  he  is." 

No  one  ever  thought  of  the  Hostess  House 
functioning  in  these  ways  until  it  began  to  do  so. 

132 


51 

~. 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

I  have  given  these  instances  merely  to  show  the 
place  that  it  is  filling  in  the  daily  lives  of  the 
men  in  the  camps.  Taking  care  of  women  will 
always  be  its  chief  aim,  and  the  chief  ministry 
of  the  women  stationed  there  will  always  be  to 
make  visiting  women  comfortable.  Many  war- 
brides  follow  their  husbands  to  camp  and  spend 
their  days  knitting  together  in  the  big  living- 
room,  waiting  for  their  husbands  to  be  relieved 
from  duty  and  join  them.  Weddings  take  place 
there,  too.  At  Camp  Meade  on  one  of  the 
busiest  of  Saturday  afternoons  a  young  soldier 
whispered  into  the  ear  of  one  of  the  women  that 
he  and  his  girl  had  decided  to  get  married,  so 
could  n't  she  help  them.  She  could  and  she  did. 
Hundreds  of  people  were  in  the  living-room, 
but  until  it  was  almost  over  none  of  them  knew 
of  the  lively  things  that  had  suddenly  begun  to 
happen.  One  of  the  hostesses  had  come  down 
by  train  that  morning,  bringing  an  armful  of 
flowers  with  her.  These  were  used  to  decorate 
one  of  the  smaller  rooms  for  the  occasion,  and 
also  for  a  bridal  bouquet.  The  couple,  with  the 
bride's  mother  and  a  small  group  of  friends, 

135 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

were  waiting  when  the  women  brought  the  chap- 
lain in.  After  the  ceremony  was  over,  the 
bridal  party  discovered  a  splendid  surprise 
awaited  them.  They  were  escorted  to  a  table 
where  a  wedding  supper  was  served  by  an  au- 
gust colored  trooper  who,  in  civilian  life,  had 
been  head-waiter  at  a  large  and  fashionable 
hotel. 

There  is  no  limit  to  the  variety  of  demands 
made  on  the  hostesses,  and  some  of  them  are 
amusing.  One  day  an  attractive  but  frivolous 
young  girl  made  her  way  to  the  desk  and  said  to 
the  woman  there,  "I  wish  to  go  to  France  to 
drive  a  motor-car,  or  to  do  something  like  that. 
Of  course  I  wish  you  to  understand  that  I  am 
willing  to  pay  all  of  my  own  expenses,  but  I 
want  you  to  tell  me  how  I  can  do  this,  and  if  I 
must  get  married  before  I  go."  Close  on  her 
heels  came  a  stout  female  who  asked  where  the 
garage  could  be  found.  She  said  she  had  come 
to  call  on  a  gentleman  friend,  a  chauffeur  who 
had  been  drafted  into  the  service. 

The  work  of  the  Hostess  Houses  is  most  sig- 
nificant. The  Young  Women's  Christian  Asso- 

136 


HOSTESS  HOUSES 

ciation  is  making  it  not  only  possible,  but 
charming  for  a  man's  people  to  come  and  see 
him  as  often  as  they  can  while  he  is  still  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  They  are  keeping  the 
memories  of  home  alive  in  the  man  by  supplying 
him  with  a  substitute  for  home.  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Xavier  Reille,  who  was  sent  to  this  coun- 
try by  the  French  Government  in  connection 
with  teaching  our  men  trench-warfare,  has  ex- 
pressed the  hope  that  we  may  carry  this  insti- 
tution to  France  before  long. 

"The  Hostess  House,"  he  says,  "would  help 
to  solve  a  big  difficulty  there,  and  I  feel  that  it 
is  going  to  be  one  of  the  ways  in  which  our  new 
allies  will  help  us." 


137 


CHAPTER  VIH 

THE   POST   EXCHANGE 

"T^vOLLARS  for  doughnuts,  more  dollars 
-L/  for  pies,  and  still  more  dollars — thou- 
sands of  them — for  candy,  are  being  spent  here 
each  week  by  the  soldiers  of  New  England's  Na- 
tional Army.  They  eat  more  candy — almond  - 
bars  are  their  favorite — than  the  Government 
can  buy.  They  devour  whole  mountains  of 
doughnuts,  miles  and  miles  of  'hot  dogs,'  oceans 
of  coffee,  lakes  of  milk,  and  they  spend  their 
nickels  and  dimes  and  quarters  and  dollars  for 
every  conceivable  what-not,"  said  the  "Boston 
Post"  in  commenting  on  the  amazing  amount  of 
business  done  by  the  post  exchanges  at  Camp 
Devens. 

Post  exchanges  are  the  series  of  stores  dot- 
ting the  grounds  of  the  National  Army  can- 
tonments, where  the  soldier  may  purchase  any 
of  the  small  articles,  from  a  button  to  a  song- 

138 


THE  POST  EXCHANGE 

book,  that  contribute  to  his  content  and  comfort. 
Goods  are  sold  here  at  lower  prices  than  obtain 
in  the  cities,  and  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  made  by  small  trading  on  a  vast  scale 
are  turned  back  again  to  the  soldiers'  coffers, 
for  Uncle  Sam  is  storekeeper. 

Can  you  imagine  a  city  having  a  population 
of  forty  thousand,  containing  theaters,  libraries, 
and  dance-halls,  with  never  a  sign  of  a  shop  in 
which  to  buy  cigarettes  or  tobacco,  sodas  or 
chocolate,  or  soap,  handkerchiefs,  gloves,  and 
boots? 

Clothing,  in  a  limited  and  exact  amount,  and 
three  square  meals  a  day  are  furnished  by  the 
Government,  but  the  small  appurtenances  nec- 
essary to  contentment  are  left  to  the  individual 
inclination  of  each  man.  If  he  is  fond  of  chew- 
ing gum  after  meals  or  in  the  habit  of  breaking 
the  interim  between  lunch  and  dinner  with  a  slice 
of  apple  pie,  if  he  finds  he  has  shaken  his  last 
bit  of  tooth-powder  out  of  the  can,  if  he  wants  a 
favorite  magazine  for  his  own,  if  he  suddenly 
discovers  a  shortage  in  his  stock  of  undercloth- 
ing, that  is  his  own  affair. 

139 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

It  would  be  a  sorry  affair  if  the  Government, 
immersed  in  military  preparations,  washed  its 
hands  of  the  matter  there.  But  just  because 
the  Government  is  immersed  in  military  prep- 
arations— preparations  from  the  conscious 
viewpoint  that  a  contented  army  is  a  fighting 
army — it  is  right  there  that  it  effectively  steps 
in. 

There  is  nothing  more  personal  about  a 
human  being  than  the  small  purchases  that  make 
up  his  daily  necessities  and  luxuries.  So  it  was 
quite  natural  that  the  War  Department's  Com- 
mission on  Training  Camp  Activities  should 
tackle  the  problem  of  supplying  a  half  million 
men  with  shoestrings  and  sodas,  with  razor- 
blades,  and  writing-paper. 

Now,  if  one  visits  a  cantonment  of  the  Na- 
tional Army,  he  will  find  a  number  of  long,  low 
buildings,  about  forty  by  one  hundred  feet, 
fully  stocked  with  as  many  different  articles  as 
the  village  emporium,  dear  to  the  country  re- 
cruit. It  resembles,  in  a  way,  the  brilliant  col- 
lection of  merchandise  familiar  to  the  city  youth 
at  the  corner  drug-store.  Indeed,  from  a  social 

140 


THE  POST  EXCHANGE 

point  of  view,  the  post  exchange  is  the  exact 
counterpart  of  these  intimate  loitering-places. 
It  fills  a  real  need  of  the  young  American  who 
is  in  the  habit  of  casually  dropping  in,  lighting 
a  cigarette,  and  discussing  the  base-ball  score 
with  his  particular  pals. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  despite  the 
big  dinners  due  two  hours  later,  there  is  a  gen- 
eral rush  to  the  post  exchange  for  sweet  crack- 
ers, apples,  coffee,  milk,  and  candy.  Candy  is 
the  most  popular,  generally  speaking,  of  the 
varied  stock.  The  Division  Exchange  Officer  at 
Camp  Custer  says :  ' '  Candy,  primarily,  seems 
to  be  a  woman's  commodity,  but  the  amount  of 
it  consumed  by  the  men  in  camp  is  astonishing. 
"We  have  to  order  huge  quantities  to  meet  the 
demand."  A  noteworthy  feature  of  the  buy- 
ing is  that  candy  and  other  edibles,  such  as 
cookies  and  biscuits,  have  a  larger  selling  value 
when  put  up  in  "glassine"  or  oiled  paper  than 
in  cardboard  boxes  or  packages. 

At  Camp  Meade,  Maryland,  the  articles  most 
in  demand  are  a  huge  cake  that  costs  fifteen 
cents,  which,  as  one  of  the  men  said,  is  a  meal 

141 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

in  itself,  and  soft  drinks.  It  is  estimated  that 
each  exchange  at  Camp  Devens,  Massachusetts, 
sells  one  thousand  pints  of  milk  daily.  The 
New  Englanders  are  also  fond  of  candy.  They 
eat  carloads  of  it,  showing  a  preference  for 
sweet  chocolate.  In  fact,  the  man  in  training 
displays  every  characteristic  of  the  American 
schoolboy  off  on  a  holiday  with  some  pocket 
money. 

In  one  way,  though,  the  boy  in  camp  has  out- 
grown the  boy  in  school.  This  is  in  his  choice 
of  delicacies.  The  ice-cream,  milk,  and  nour- 
ishing chocolate  he  eats  far  exceeds  his  con- 
sumption of  doughnuts,  crullers,  and  pies. 
Pastries  are  not  as  good  for  the  men  as  other 
foods,  but  the  army  doctors  who  keep  a  sharp 
lookout  that  Sammie  shall  not  spoil  his  health  by 
injudicious  eating  between  meals  do  not  object 
to  them,  so  long  as  they  are  of  the  standard 
quality  demanded  by  the  army.  Certain  bottled 
temperance  drinks  have  been  barred,  because 
they  were  found  to  contain  drugs,  and  when 
there  was  an  unreasonable  use  of  cough-drops, 
the  army  physicians  decided  that  all  articles  of 

142 


THE  POST  EXCHANGE 

a  medicinal  nature  should  be  excluded  from  the 
post  exchange  and  confined  strictly  to  the  base- 
hospital. 

There  are  from  eleven  to  sixteen  post  ex- 
changes in  each  camp,  approximately  one  to 
each  regiment.  Each  is  in  charge  of  a  company 
officer,  usually  a  lieutenant,  aided  by  a  steward 
and  four  or  five  attendants.  In  the  most  elab- 
orately equipped  exchange  that  I  saw,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  usual  stock  of  edibles  and  notions, 
there  was  an  endless  variety  of  pennants  and 
cushions,  a  clothing  department  where  the  sol- 
dier on  leave  could  hastily  replenish  his  ward- 
robe, a  book-and-magazine  section,  a  novelty 
gift-counter,  and  a  jewelry-counter.  The  last 
two  are  very  popular.  Sentiment  for  home  is 
greatly  strengthened  by  the  separation  that  mil- 
itary training  entails,  and  it  is  frequently  ex- 
pressed by  little  gifts  to  the  ones  left  behind. 
An  article  that  has  found  favor  with  the  men 
for  this  purpose  is  a  handkerchief -case  about  a 
foot  square,  with  some  gay-colored  silk  on  one 
side  and  an  American  flag  on  the  other.  In  a 
short  time  four  thousand  of  these  were  sold. 

143 


KEEPING  OUE  FIGHTERS  FIT 

At  the  jewelry-counter  are  emblems,  wrist- 
watches,  and  rings,  especially  rings  for  the  men. 
I  was  told  that  engagement  rings  can  also  be 
purchased  through  the  post  exchange,  and  that 
both  officers  and  men  avail  themselves  of  this 
privilege. 

The  exchanges  for  colored  troops  are  much 
like  those  for  the  white  soldiers  as  to  their  con- 
tents. They  are  identical  in  structure,  with  a 
greater  preponderance  of  soft  drinks,  fewer  pen- 
nants and  books,  and  a  smaller  variety  of  toilet 
articles  and  knick-knacks.  That  the  men  are 
deeply  interested  in  their  possible  acquisition  of 
avoirdupois  is  also  demonstrated  in  the  post  ex- 
change. At  one  of  the  exchanges  for  colored 
troops  there  is  a  weighing-machine  with  a 
capacity  of  2800  pennies.  After  it  had  been 
there  three  weeks,  it  was  found  to  contain  2700 
pennies.  The  agent  was  not  due  until  four 
weeks  had  elapsed  so  they  had  to  send  for  him  to 
open  the  machine ! 

There  are  also  traveling  exchanges  in  the 
shape  of  well-laden  motor-trucks.  Each  ex- 
change has  its  truck,  and  when  a  particular  regi- 

144 


inent  hikes  away  and  encamps  at  a  short  dis- 
tance as  a  part  of  its  training,  the  truck,  like  a 
good  Samaritan,  appears  on  the  scene  and  offers 
welcome  refreshment,  both  liquid  and  solid. 

An  astonishing  demand  is  shown  for  other 
articles  than  food.  At  Camp  Lee,  Virginia, 
suitcases  were  placed  on  sale  at  $1.50,  and  sixty 
of  them  were  bought  within  thirty  minutes. 
When  a  special  kind  of  army  trunk  was  offered, 
the  men  stood  in  line  to  buy  them.  The  amount 
of  business  done  by  the  exchanges  is  due,  no 
doubt,  to  the  moderate  prices  maintained.  It 
was  assumed  at  the  outset  that  greater  profits 
could  be  made  through  extensive  sales  of  com- 
modities at  a  moderate  price  than  through  re- 
stricted trading  in  higher  priced  ones.  This 
policy  has  been  adhered  to  rigidly.  Articles  on 
sale  in  the  post  exchange  never  cost  more  than 
in  city  stores,  and  often  are  less.  For  instance, 
in  the  matter  of  officers '  boots,  while  the  officers 
do  not  benefit  from  the  profits  of  the  post  ex- 
change through  regimental  and  company  funds 
as  the  men  do,  still  they  decidedly  benefit  from 
being  able  to  purchase  boots  at  a  reduction  of 

145 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

nine  or  ten  dollars.  At  one  exchange  more  than 
four  hundred  pairs  of  a  certain  kind  of  field- 
boot  for  which  merchants  were  asking  $26.00  in 
a  nearby  town  were  sold  at  $16.80,  the  cost  plus 
five  per  cent,  profit. 

And  yet  the  post  exchanges  make  money. 
They  make  it  at  such  a  rate  that  the  modern 
romance  of  big  business  seems  tame  beside  what 
amounts  to  the  largest  chain  of  department 
stores  in  the  country.  Started  without  funds, 
they  not  only  acquitted  themselves  of  obliga- 
tions in  an  amazingly  short  time,  but  could  show 
swiftly  increasing  assets.  Each  exchange  does 
a  business  of  nearly  $1000  a  day,  and  when  one 
remembers  that  there  are  from  eleven  to  six- 
teen exchanges  in  each  cantonment,  it  is  easy 
to  realize  that  the  trade  of  a  year  mounts  into 
the  millions.  Three  months  after  the  exchanges 
had  begun  operating  the  Division  Exchange 
Officer  in  one  cantonment  reported  that  the  Post 
Exchange  owned  large  and  complete  stocks, 
hadn't  a  creditor  in  the  world,  boasted  a  sur- 
plus of  more  than  $200,000  and  paid  dividends. 

What  becomes  of  this  aggregate,  piled  up 
146 


THE  POST  EXCHANGE 

from  the  stream  of  Sammie's  nickels,  dimes, 
and  quarters?  By  the  Government's  arrange- 
ment only  Sammie  profits.  If  he  puts  much 
into  the  post  exchange,  so  does  he  get  much  out 
of  it.  Back  into  the  company  and  regimental 
funds  go  the  profits  which  are  expended  by  their 
respective  councils  on  whatever  seems  to  be  most 
needed  by  the  unit.  In  the  old  days,  when  the 
enlisted  man's  ration  allowance  was  twelve  cents 
a  day,  the  money  was  usually  spent  to  elaborate 
the  mess.  Now,  with  a  forty-cent  allowance, 
there  is  small  need  of  adding  delicacies  to  the 
menu,  and  the  larger  part  of  the  fund  goes  for 
extra  living  comforts,  athletic  equipment,  and 
so  on.  In  one  cantonment,  at  the  suggestion 
of  the  commanding  officer,  it  has  been  decided 
to  put  aside  the  major  part  of  the  money  as  a 
tobacco  fund  to  be  used  for  smokes  when  the 
soldiers  get  "over  there,"  the  matter  of  pro- 
curing cigarettes  being  a  much  more  difficult 
matter  than  here.  One  unit  has  bought  musical 
instruments  for  their  band,  at  an  expenditure  of 
$1700.  Two  other  regiments  have  bought  hun- 
dreds of  dollars'  worth  of  baseball  equipment, 

147 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

including  uniforms  for  company  and  regimental 
teams.  Spending  small  sums  at  a  time  for  com- 
pany affairs,  such  as  dinners  and  dances,  is  an- 
other way  the  men  have  of  eating  and  keeping 
the  post  exchange  cake.  The  unexpected  effect 
this  arrangement  sometimes  creates  was  shown 
in  an  incident  at  Camp  Ouster.  Shortly  after 
the  first  exchange  was  opened  there  in  a  perma- 
nent building  the  business  amounted  to  from 
$1200  to  $2000  a  day.  At  the  time  there  was  a 
large  number  of  negroes  among  the  eight  thou- 
sand workmen  used  by  the  quartermaster  and 
contractor.  One  evening,  when  all  the  windows 
were  crowded  with  a  mass  of  humanity  trying  to 
buy  cigars,  cigarettes,  candy,  soap,  towels,  etc., 
a  negro  workman  yelled  to  the  officer  in  charge : 

"Say,  boss,  where  do  all  de  profits  from  dis 
yere  business  go?" 

"Why,  to  the  soldiers,*'  the  officer  replied. 

"Is  dat  so,  boss?  Well  den,  dey  sure  can 
call  ma  number  any  time ! ' ' 

Besides  giving  the  men  in  camp  an  opportun- 
ity to  purchase  necessities  and  luxuries  at  min- 

148 


imum  cost  and  to  share  in  the  profits,  the  Post 
Exchange  also  makes  it  easy  for  the  soldier  to 
procure  these  comforts  in  a  manner  that  con- 
tributes to  his  good  standing.  It  extends  credit 
to  the  soldier.  "What  this  means  can  be  real- 
ized only  by  the  man  who  finds  his  pockets  empty 
with  pay-day  two  weeks  behind  and  require- 
ments two  weeks  ahead.  To  many  of  the  men, 
credit  is  a  new  experience.  It  is  a  convenience 
of  which  they  are  getting  a  first  taste,  and 
this  contributes  to  their  self-respect  and  self- 
esteem. 

A  sense  of  responsibility  comes  with  the  new 
privilege.  This,  again  unlike  the  distinctions 
of  private  life,  affects  the  man  whose  private 
income  trebles  his  military  wage,  as  well  as  the 
chap  who  counts  his  all  in  Government  pay. 
One  must  plan  his  buying  with  discretion,  for 
no  one's  credit  exceeds  one  third  of  his  pay. 
A  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  novice  to  wade 
recklessly  into  a  sea  of  debt  is  removed,  and  the 
careless  habits  acquired  by  sons  of  over-indul- 
gent fathers  are  checked.  As  an  incentive  to 

149 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

good  behavior,  even  this  credit  is  given  only 
to  the  soldier  whose  conduct  is  good,  and  it 
ceases  if  he  acquires  a  bad  mark. 

Credit  is  not  given  at  all  the  camps,  but  where 
it  is  in  vogue  the  exact  amount  to  be  extended 
to  each  individual  is  fixed  by  the  company  com- 
mander. Two-dollar  coupon  books  containing 
twenty  coupons  are  issued.  When  a  man  "goes 
broke,"  he  applies  to  the  company  commander 
and  signs  a  receipt  for  a  coupon-book,  after 
which  the  coupons  are  accepted  as  cash  by  the 
post  exchange.  On  the  following  pay-day  the 
exchange  officer  is  present  at  the  payment  of  the 
command,  and  he  collects  the  whole  amount  due 
as  shown  by  the  signed  receipts  on  the  credit 
book.  This  debt  is  supposed  to  be  settled  vol- 
untarily. If  the  soldier  fails  to  meet  it,  credit 
is  stopped  until  the  debt  is  discharged.  Offi- 
cers, of  course,  are  given  credit,  and  may  also 
cash  their  checks  at  the  post  exchange. 

The  post  exchanges  are  not  a  new  thing  in 
military  life,  although  the  latest  ones  of  the 
National  Army  camps  differ  in  several  re- 
spects from  the  older  institutions  of  the  Na- 

150 


THE  POST  EXCHANGE 

tional  Guard  and  Regular  Army  posts.  The 
development  of  the  post  exchange  is  an  inter- 
esting matter.  Its  beginnings  were  made  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War,  when  certain  civilians  formed 
the  practice  of  following  the  armies  and  selling 
soldiers  whatever  they  would  buy.  These  trav- 
eling merchants  were  known  as  "sutlers." 
To  the  sutler,  the  soldier  was  simply  a  customer. 
His  interest  in  the  soldier  began  and  ended  with 
the  sale,  and  rarely  did  he  stay  long  at  one  place. 
Whatever  profit  the  sutler  could  make  was  his 
own,  and  few  of  them  conducted  their  business 
at  a  loss. 

Following  the  Civil  War  came  the  great  open- 
ing of  the  West,  and  with  it  came  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  "post  trader"  at  army  posts. 
These  post  traders  also  were  civilians.  Here, 
again,  whatever  they  could  make  was  their  own, 
and  they  improved  the  opportunity  briskly. 
The  sale  of  liquor  was  permitted,  and  gradually 
it  became  the  chief  article  of  sale.  In  the  early 
70 's  the  occupation  of  "post  trader"  was  abol- 
ished, and  the  "canteen"  was  established  under 
Government  supervision.  Here  began  the  shar- 

151 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

ing  of  the  soldier  in  the  profits  of  his  own  pur- 
chases. Beer  and  light  wines  were  sold.  The 
profits  of  the  canteen  went  into  the  company 
mess.  The  canteen  continued  until  1901,  but 
its  activity  was  limited  largely  to  the  selling  of 
beer  and  operating  a  restaurant.  A  few  years 
after  the  Spanish-American  War  an  Act  of 
Congress  was  passed  that  prohibited  the  selling 
of  liquor  at  the  canteen,  and  the  name  was 
changed  to  "post  exchange."  The  scope  of  the 
post  exchange  became  vastly  greater  than  that 
of  the  old  canteen,  and  thoughtful  provision 
was  made  to  take  care  of  the  personal  needs  of 
the  men.  In  this  form  they  have  continued,  and 
to-day  they  exist  in  the  Regular  Army  posts 
and  National  Guard  camps. 

But  in  setting  out  to  establish  almost  in- 
stantly a  chain  of  cooperative  stores  in  each 
National  Army  cantonment,  the  commission 
found  itself  confronted  with  a  difficult  situation 
that  required  new  provisions  to  meet  the  emer- 
gency. Under  the  old  regulations,  each  unit 
made  its  own  provisions  for  a  post  exchange. 
Funds  to  buy  fixtures  for  the  store  and  initial 

152 


THE  POST  EXCHANGE 

stocks  were  secured  by  a  gift,  the  proceeds  of  a 
base-ball  game,  or  by  subscription  among  the 
men.  The  delay  involved  in  such  procedure 
was  not  compatible  with  the  urgency  of  the  new 
situation.  It  was  now  necessary  that  supplies 
and  equipment  be  bought  for  a  number  of  stores 
in  each  cantonment  without  delay.  Ordinarily, 
all  exchanges  are  conducted  on  a  strictly  cash 
basis.  These  of  the  National  Army  had  to  in- 
augurate their  career  in  a  different  way;  they 
purchased  their  initial  stocks  on  from  sixty  to 
ninety  days'  time  from  merchants  who  were 
convinced  that  the  project  was  sound,  on  the 
assumption  that,  even  with  a  small  margin  of 
profit,  their  vast  sales  would  enable  them  to 
make  good.  This  plan,  indeed,  justified  itself, 
for  it  is  a  matter  of  record  that,  beginning  with 
a  capital  of  nothing,  the  post  exchanges  in  an 
amazingly  short  time  were  paying  dividends  on 
a  large  scale. 

Formerly,  each  regimental  officer  kept  his 
own  set  of  books  and  had  direct  commercial  re- 
lations with  jobber  and  manufacturer.  Under 
the  new  circumstances,  however,  it  was  neces- 

153 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

sary  that  the  buying  and  expenditures  of  each 
camp  be  controlled  by  one  central  authority. 
This  condition  involved  the  creation  of  the  post 
of  Division  Exchange  Officer,  and  the  commis- 
sion set  about  enlisting  the  services  of  business 
men  of  assured  qualifications,  whom  it  recom- 
mended to  the  War  Department  for  commis- 
sions as  Division  Exchange  Officer  with  the  rank 
of  captain.  A  uniform  system  of  accounting 
was  also  drawn  up. 

The  exchanges  are  under  the  immediate  man- 
agement of  the  Division  Exchange  Officer,  who, 
in  turn,  is  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  exchange 
council,  composed  of  commissioned  representa- 
tives from  the  organizations  that  participate  in 
their  profits.  The  sixteen  Division  Exchange 
Officers  include  men  who  are  known  as  "cap- 
tains of  industry"  and  who  have  left  large  com- 
mercial enterprises  to  help  the  Government  give 
the  soldiers  a  place  to  shop.  They  have  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  chains  of  army  stores  that 
would  do  credit  to  any  private  corporation. 

Unlike  the  privately-owned  store,  however, 
the  post  exchange  holds  for  the  boys  in  camp 

154 


THE  POST  EXCHANGE 

an  attraction  that  is  peculiarly  and  entirely  its 
own,  just  as  each  other  commission  activity  is 
distinguished  by  a  characteristic  feature.  For 
instance,  the  Library  claims  truly  that  it  is  the 
only  quiet  place  where  fellows  can  read;  the 
Hostess  House  is  the  only  place  where  a  fellow 
can  entertain  his  friends;  and  the  Post  Ex- 
change, the  fellows  say,  is  the  only  place  that  is 
absolutely  their  own.  They  support  it  and 
share  in  its  profits.  Here  they  are  their  own 
guests. 

The  post  exchange  is  a  natural  ice-breaker. 
It  gives  rise  to  many  friendships  and  constantly 
strengthens  them  with  its  encouragement  of  the 
sociable  habit  of  dropping  in  at  a  convenient 
place  with  one's  cronies  for  some  light  refresh- 
ment between  times.  It  corresponds  to  an  im- 
portant phase  of  civil  life,  and  fills  what  would, 
otherwise  be  a  definite  gap  by  supplying  the 
normalities  of  home  to  the  men  in  camp. 


155 


CHAPTER  IX 

EDUCATIONAL    WOBK   IN    CAMP 

BROADLY  speaking,  all  military  training  is 
educational,  but,  strange  as  it  may  at  first 
appear,  education  in  its  restricted  sense,  begin- 
ning with  the  three  R's,  is  provided  in  the 
camps.  It  will  be  difficult  for  some  people  to 
understand  why  a  soldier  or  a  sailor  needs  to 
know  anything  besides  the  practice  of  fighting. 
Why  must  a  man  know  how  to  read  books,  to 
write  his  name,  and  to  figure  sums?  Do  these 
help  him  to  smash  the  Hindenburg  line?  And 
surely  there  can't  be  more  than  a  dozen  men  in 
our  whole  army  or  navy  who  are  unable  to  do 
these  things  1 

Men  of  all  kinds  have  been  gathered  in  by  the 
draft.  They  come  from  colleges,  from  shoe- 
stores,  from  iron-foundries,  from  sweat-shops, 
and  from  street-corners.  Others  come  from 
farms  and  mines  and  the  remote  mountain  dis- 

156 


EDUCATIONAL  WORK  IN  CAMP 

tricts.  Some  of  them  speak  and  write  the 
king's  English;  some,  alas,  the  kaiser's  German, 
with  a  strong  American  accent ;  and  others  any- 
thing, from  a  Russian  dialect  to  Chinese. 

It  does  not  admit  of  argument  that  a  soldier 
must  understand  the  orders  of  his  superiors; 
so  it  is  a  matter  of  basic  efficiency  to  teach  him 
English,  if  he  has  not  learned  it  before  coming 
into  the  service.  The  necessity  of  a  man's  be- 
ing able  to  find  his  way  from  signboards  about 
the  camp  makes  it  apparent  that  the  ability  to 
read  is  almost  as  important.  It  is  possible  for 
a  fighter  to  draw  his  pay,  even  if  he  cannot 
write  his  name,  but  he  can  get  it  more  quickly,  as 
well  as  retain  his  self-respect,  if  he  does  n't  have 
to  go  through  the  formality  of  having  it  written 
and  making  a  cross,  "his  mark,"  after  it.  As 
to  arithmetic,  its  rudiments  are  a  great  advan- 
tage to  the  man  who  would  become  a  good 
marksman  with  a  rifle. 

These  are  the  reasons,  reduced  to  simplest 
terms,  for  educational  work  in  the  camps.  In 
addition,  it  might  be  said  that  it  promotes  clear 
thinking,  and  it  is  almost  axiomatic  that  the 

157 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

more  clearly  a  man  thinks,  the  better  he  fights. 

The  percentage  of  illiteracy  in  this  country  is 
small,  so  that  the  greatest  need  for  education 
of  an  elementary  sort  is  among  our  foreign- 
born  soldiers.  Some  of  these  have  lived  in  col- 
onies composed  almost  wholly  of  people  of  their 
own  nationality,  and,  lacking  the  actual  need  of 
English,  they  have  failed  to  learn  it.  They 
have  been  beyond  the  legal  school  age  when 
they  landed,  and  have  had  no  opportunity  or 
desire  to  improve  themselves  beyond  the  point 
of  being  able  to  make  a  living.  Some  of  the  men 
who  come  from  the  remote  mountain  districts  of 
this  country  are  also  unable  either  to  read  or  to 
write.  Among  them  were  draftees  who,  when 
they  reached  the  cantonment,  thought  they  had 
arrived  in  France! 

The  Commission's  special  educational  com- 
mittee is  responsible  for  the  work,  much  of 
which  is  directed  by  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Desire  for 
study  among  the  men  is  stimulated.  A  sec- 
retary casually  asks  one  of  the  men : 

"How  would  the  folks  at  home  like  to  get  a 
letter  from  you!" 

158 


EDUCATIONAL  WORK  IN  CAMP 

1 '  Can 't  write, ' '  is  the  expected  reply. 

"You  can  learn;  would  you  like  to?"  and  an- 
other recruit  is  made  a  more  useful  member  of 
democracy. 

His  people,  who  receive  his  letters  when  he 
learns  to  write  them,  may  have  to  walk  a  mile 
to  their  nearest  reading  neighbor  to  hear  the 
news  they  contain,  but  that  is  an  unimportant 
detail,  except  that  it  may  lead  to  their  learning 
to  read  themselves. 

In  carrying  the  school-room  to  the  canton- 
ment, great  care  is  exercised  in  regard  to  the 
sensitiveness  of  adults  who  are  unable  to  read 
and  write,  and  it  is  to  the  credit  of  the  pupils 
that  they  show  a  fine  purpose  and  spirit  in  their 
efforts.  The  teacher  is  cautioned  to  respect 
their  feelings,  and  his  success  depends  largely 
on  the  amount  of  tact  that  he  displays.  It  is 
quite  different  from  an  ordinary  class.  The 
rigid  discipline  of  the  training  field  is  relaxed, 
and  the  instructor  meets  his  men  on  a  basis  of 
friendliness  and  confidence. 

Methods  have  to  be  adapted  to  conditions,  but 
in  teaching  English  to  foreigners  the  instructor 

161 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

generally  endeavors  to  motivate  the  lessons. 
For  instance,  he  will  ask  the  class  to  say  in  con- 
cert such  sentences  as:  "I  am  a  soldier  of 
America";  "I  am  fighting  for  democracy'*; 
'  *  democracy  is  the  rule  of  the  people. ' '  The  in- 
dividual members  repeat  these  phrases.  Thus 
our  new  citizens  learn  both  the  language  of  the 
country  and  the  meaning  of  its  privileges. 
This  system  is  applied  to  the  requirements  of 
the  soldiers'  everyday  lives,  so  that  they  learn 
the  names  of  the  camp  paraphernalia,  what  they 
eat  and  wear,  and  the  meaning  of  military  com- 
mands. The  course  is  practical,  first  and  last, 
and  formal  grammar  and  rhetoric  have  no  place 
in  it. 

Among  the  principal  texts  used  in  the  initial 
stages  of  instruction  are  "The  Roberts  Series," 
a  course  of  lessons  on  military  English  prepared 
by  George  W.  Tupper  in  collaboration  with  the 
military  authorities  of  Camp  Devens  and  Dr. 
Peter  Roberts  of  the  International  Committee 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  the  "Soldier's  First 
Book."  The  latter  book  was  prepared  by  Mrs, 

162 


EDUCATIONAL  WOEK  IN  CAMP 

Cora  Wilson  Stewart,  whose  experience  in  work 
among  the  illiterate  mountaineers  of  the  South 
made  her  an  authority.  It  teaches  not  only  the 
rudiments  of  reading  and  writing,  but  ideals  as 
well.  It  is  a  good-humored  little  book,  too,  as 
may  be  seen  from  the  eighth  lesson: 

Let  us  play  a  joke  on  a  rookie. 

All  right. 

What  shall  it  be? 

Send  him  after  a  key. 

A  key  to  what  ? 

A  key  to  the  parade-ground. 

Is  that  a  joke? 

Can  you  not  see  it? 

No,  I  cannot. 

Did  you  ever  see  a  key  to  a  field? 

No.     I  see.     The  joke  is  on  me. 

In  the  book  are  reflected  camp  life  and  the 
ideals  of  a  democracy,  and  it  will  help  to  pre- 
serve both  on  a  high  place.  Other  texts  used 
carry  out  the  same  general  idea  through  the 
various  grades  for  which  they  are  intended. 
The  three  R's  are  compulsory  in  most  camps 
where  they  are  necessary,  but  they  are  made 

163 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

interesting  and  enjoyable,  and  there  is  less  of 
discipline  in  the  class-rooms  than  in  the  public 
schools. 

So  much  for  the  elementary  work.  Educa- 
tion in  the  camps  goes  a  long  way  beyond  that. 
There  are  intermediate  courses  in  history  and 
geography  that  show  the  backgrounds  and  local- 
ities of  the  war.  There  are  those  that  prepare 
men  for  transfer  from  one  branch  of  the 
service  to  another,  and  for  promotion.  These 
include  mathematics,  report-writing,  bookkeep- 
ing, stenography,  typewriting,  telegraphy  (wire 
and  wireless),  telephony,  engineering,  naviga- 
tion, warehousing,  and  scientific  management. 
There  are  also  college-grade  courses  along  con- 
siderably higher  lines ;  special  courses,  like  pub- 
lic speaking,  short-story  writing,  memory-train- 
ing, and  psychology;  and  university  extension 
courses.  Certainly,  the  characterization  of  the 
army  and  navy  as  "the  larger  university"  was 
an  apt  one. 

Then  there  is  French,  some  knowledge  of 
which  is  an  undeniable  asset  to  the  fighter  in 
France.  In  some  camps  it  is  a  compulsory 

164 


study  for  selected  groups  of  officers  and  men, 
but  in  all  of  them  it  is  a  popular  one.  At  Camp 
Wadsworth  recently  it  was  found  that  ninety- 
two  per  cent,  of  the  men  desired  it. 

It  is  " trench  French"  that  they  are  learning, 
rich  in  the  vernacular  of  the  poilu,  and  in  the 
little  text-book  that  they  use,  "  Premier  Se- 
cours,"  there  are  no  reminders  of  high  school 
French,  such  as,  "I  give  the  red  copy-book  to 
the  aunt  of  my  father."  Instead,  there  are 
really  usable  words  and  phrases  in  regard  to 
living,  eating,  traveling,  fighting,  and  the  like. 
The  soldier  learns  that  "Je  m'en  fiche"  means, 
"I  don't  give  a  hang  about  it,"  and  that  when 
he  would  say  to  an  American,  "Beat  it,"  he 
would  tell  a  Frenchman,  "Fiche-moi  la  paix." 
A  soldier  in  high  school  vernacular  is  a  soldat, 
but  in  the  trenches  he  is  a  pioupiou.  Money  is 
not  argent;  it  is  la  galette. 

There  are  other  bits  of  vernacular  in  this 
book  that  are  equally  interesting.  "I  have 
pawned  my  watch"  is  rendered,  "Ma  montre 
est  chez  ma  tante,"  aunt  being  equivalent  to 
the  American  "uncle"  as  a  euphemism  for 

165 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

pawnbroker.  "Vous  blaguez"  is  French  for 
"You  're  kidding,"  and  "Qu'est-ce  que  vous  me 
chantez  Id?"  (What  are  you  singing  to  me 
about!)  is  the  equivalent  for  "What  are  you  bat- 
ting about!"  Most  of  these  phrases  and  ex- 
pressions, it  is  perhaps  needless  to  say,  cannot 
be  found  in  either  the  dictionary  or  grammar, 
but  it  is  possible  that  one  day  they  may  be  placed 
there.  Camouflage  was  once  a  slang  expres- 
sion; now  it  is  not  only  in  good  French  usage, 
but  it  will  doubtless  find  a  place  in  the  next 
English  dictionary. 

Other  foreign  languages  than  French  are 
taught  where  there  is  a  demand  for  them.  Rus- 
sian, Italian,  Spanish,  and  even  German  are 
given  to  those  who  want  them.  In  fact,  a  man 
can  get  instruction  in  almost  any  subject.  One 
man  asked  for  a  course  in  embalming,  and  an 
instructor  was  found  for  him. 

Instructors  are  recruited  from  all  sources. 
Many  men  from  the  ranks  are  teaching  French 
and  other  subjects,  and  occasionally  you  find  an 
officer  studying  under  one  of  the  privates  in  his 
company.  Men  and  women  from  nearby  towns 

166 


EDUCATIONAL  WORK  IN  CAMP 

volunteer  their  services  for  certain  specified 
evenings,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  rest  of 
the  teachers  are  officers  or  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secre- 
taries. 

This  educational  work  has  another  value  dis- 
tinct from  any  that  I  have  previously  mentioned. 
There  are  any  number  of  splendidly  educated 
men  in  the  ranks  who  might  otherwise  be  lonely 
for  intellectual  companionship.  Officers  can- 
not be  chummy  with  their  men,  even  in  the  most 
democratic  army  in  the  world,  without  running 
the  risk  of  being  charged  with  favoritism  and 
placing  themselves  and  the  men  in  an  anoma- 
lous position.  One  man  in  a  company  may  be 
literary  in  his  tastes,  while  the  rest  are  decid- 
edly the  opposite.  He  may  be  on  the  best  of 
terms  with  his  fellows  and  share  in  their  activi- 
ties with  real  enjoyment,  but  there  come  times 
when  he  would  be  glad  to  match  his  wits  with  his 
mental  equals,  when  he  could  refer  to  Dr.  John- 
son without  having  it  thought  that  he  referred 
to  a  near  relative  of  a  pugilist,  or  when  he 
wished  to  discuss  the  new  refutation  of  the  Dar- 
winian theory.  Occasionally  one  likes  to  show 

167 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

that  he  knows  which  fork  to  use  at  a  dinner- 
party. 

These  men  are  given  a  chance  to  teach  and  to 
organize  and  conduct  literary  clubs  or  debating 
societies.  They  can  attend  the  lectures  ami 
they  can  take  advantage  of  the  cultural  courses 
that  are  offered. 

In  all  the  efforts  along  these  lines  the  camp 
librarian  cooperates  to  the  utmost.  He  has  the 
means  of  stimulating  and  fostering  the  interest 
of  the  men,  and  he  uses  them  unsparingly.  He 
will  suggest  reading  correlative  to  the  courses 
that  are  being  pursued,  reading  courses  that  are 
partly  cultural  and  partly  recreative,  or  he  will 
help  a  man  to  look  up  special  information. 

At  this  writing  it  is  estimated  that  over 
100,000  men  are  enrolled  in  the  educational 
classes  of  Uncle  Sam,  the  largest  proportion  be- 
ing students  of  French.  The  number  is  grow- 
ing, and  the  influence  of  this  movement  will 
never  stop  growing.  It  will  help  to  crush  Prus- 
sianism  and  it  will  help  to  strengthen  democ- 
racy. 


168 


CHAPTER  X 

PITTING    THE    MAN    TO    THE    COMMUNITY 

A  SAILOR  lad  lay  on  a  davenport  of  the 
Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Home  Club — one 
of  the  most  homelike  that  New  York  has  opened 
for  the  entertainment  of  fighting  men ;  and  one 
noted  for  a  hospitality  which  extends  even  to 
furnishing  departing  visitors  with  a  gift  of  four 
books  each.  The  boy  was  suffering  from  badly 
over-strained  eyes.  The  women  of  the  club 
were  discussing  what  was  best  to  be  done  when 
the  outer  door  opened  and  a  stately  servant  in 
plum-colored  and  gilt-braided  livery  entered, 
bearing  a  large  suit-case  from  one  of  the  club's 
patronesses. 

* '  More  books,  Thomas  ?  Just  wait  a  moment 
until  we  see  what  we  can  do  for  our  sick  sailor 
here. ' ' 

Thomas  waited  while  they  discussed  calling 
up  the  Navy  Yard.  They  finally  decided  to 

169 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

wait  until  afternoon  on  the  chance  of  his  getting 
better. 

That  afternoon  Thomas  came  back. 

"Pardon  me,  ma'am,"  he  said,  "but  if  I  may 
make  so  bold,  my  wife  was  concerned  about  the 
young  gentleman.  You  see  we  have  a  son  of 
our  own,  and  she  ventured  to  send  this  along — " 
He  dug  down  into  his  pocket  and  brought  out  a 
small  bottle  of  camphor. 

"She  says  camphor  water,  weak  and  warm, 
is  soothing  to  the  eyes." 

In  the  beginning  the  Commissions  on  Train- 
ing Camp  Activities,  realizing  that  one  of  their 
greatest  problems  was  the  adjustment  of  social 
conditions  arising  from  the  proximity  of  camps 
to  cities,  and  from  the  shore  leave  of  thousands 
of  sailors,  turned  over  to  the  Recreation  Asso- 
ciation of  America  the  responsibility  of  fitting 
the  men  to  the  communities. 

This  organization  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 
It  sent  out  members  of  its  staff  to  all  cities  in 
the  United  States  that  were  adjacent  to  camps 
or  cantonments  under  construction,  with  instruc- 

170 


FITTING  MAN  TO  COMMUNITY 

tions  to  mobilize  the  hospitality  of  these  places 
to  aid  the  men  of  our  new  army  and  navy.  This 
was  done  in  a  systematic  and  efficient  manner. 
The  chambers  of  commerce,  boards  of  trade, 
rotary  clubs,  fraternal  organizations,  Y.  M. 
C.  A's.,  churches,  and  similar  organizations 
were  told  what  they  could  do  toward  making 
their  communities  attractive  and  safe  for  sol- 
diers and  sailors,  and  also  toward  anticipating 
difficulties  that  might  arise  from  suddenly  hav- 
ing forty  thousand  men  unloaded  at  their  doors. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  the  biggest  "get  to- 
gether" movement  in  history.  It  changed  the 
attitude  of  hundreds  of  cities  and  towns.  Dur- 
ing a  trip  through  the  West  last  summer  I  heard 
business  men  discussing  the  stimulating  effect 
that  the  cantonments  would  have  on  the  com- 
munities near  which  they  were  to  be  located. 
' '  It  '11  mean  a  lot  to  Atlanta, ' '  I  heard  a  candy- 
manufacturer  from  that  city  say,  and  there  were 
many  similarly  optimistic  expressions  all  the 
way  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 

Presently,  however,  the  question  was  not, 
"What  are  the  soldiers  going  to  do  for  us?" 

171 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

but  "What  can  we  do  for  the  soldiers!"  The 
War  Camp  Community  Service,  the  name  under 
which  the  city  and  town  divisions  are  organized, 
began  to  develop  into  a  living,  pulsating,  practi- 
cal organism,  and  at  this  writing  there  are  over 
one  hundred  and  thirty  secretaries  in  the  field 
who  are  working  toward  the  linking  up  of 
the  interests  of  soldier  and  community.  Two 
hundred  cities  and  towns  have  taken  up  the 
service,  and  thousands  upon  thousands  of  vol- 
unteer workers  are  making  this  service  possible. 
They  have  found  out  what  they  can  do  for  the 
soldiers,  and  they  are  doing  it. 

Our  army  and  navy  comprises  approximately 
a  million  and  a  half  average  American  men. 
If,  then,  you  are  a  reasonably  normal  American, 
you  can  judge  fairly  closely  as  to  what  your  re- 
actions to  a  week-end  leave  of  absence  would  be 
after  living  for  some  time  in  a  strictly  military 
environment.  You  would,  first  of  all,  go  to 
town.  You  would  look  up  any  friends  that  you 
might  happen  to  have  there,  and  you  would  be 
open  to  their  suggestions  as  to  amusement. 
You  would  seek  a  change  from  the  food  pro- 

172 


FITTING  MAN  TO  COMMUNITY 

vided  by  Uncle  Sam.  Restaurants  would  give 
you  a  pleasing  variety,  but  your  thoughts  could 
not  help  but  wander  to  the  subject  of  home- 
cooking. 

But  suppose  that  you  were  hundreds  of  miles 
from  your  home,  and  that  you  knew  no  one  in 
the  city  near  the  camp.  And  suppose  that  your 
financial  condition  did  not  warrant  your  taking 
more  than  a  five-dollar  bill  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses incidental  to  your  little  jaunt.  Isn't  it 
likely  that  the  glamor  of  the  city  would  pale 
after  a  few  hours  ?  Is  n  't  it  possible  that  you 
might  be  tempted,  because  you  were  lonely  and 
thought  that  nobody  cared? 

An  antidote  for  loneliness  and  the  blues  has 
been  provided  by  the  Recreation  Association  of 
America,  working  through  the  various  agen- 
cies that  have  rallied  to  its  aid.  The  organiza- 
tion has  evolved  a  remarkable  system,  a  system 
with  a  personality.  It  proves  that  machinery 
may  have  a  heart. 

Census  cards  have  been  secured  with  the  help 
of  the  commanding  officers  of  the  camps.  On 
each  one  is  a  man's  name,  his  church,  frater- 

173 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

nity,  college,  professional  or  trade  affiliations; 
all  of  which  make  it  possible  to  put  him  in  touch 
with  groups  of  congenial  people.  The  man's 
hobby  or  favorite  form  of  recreation  is  also  in- 
dicated on  the  card;  and  this  combination  of 
data  makes  it  possible  for  the  local  committee 
or  organizations  or  individuals  to  give  a  per- 
sonal touch  to  their  hospitality. 

That  is  merely  a  detail,  however,  to  indicate 
the  thoroughness  of  the  system.  One  of  the 
first  evidences  of  a  city's  hospitality  that  the 
fighting  man  on  leave  would  see  are  the  Service 
Clubs — the  Khaki  Clubs,  Soldiers'  and  Sailors' 
Clubs,  and  the  like — where  a  man's  pass,  as  the 
notices  read,  is  his  uniform.  It  is  likewise  his 
guarantee  of  welcome.  He  has  come  to  realize 
that  these  clubs  are  his  rightful  headquarters, 
that  their  privileges  are  his  just  as  much  as 
though  he  had  a  card  of  membership  and  paid 
regular  dues. 

The  War  Camp  Community  Service  of  New 
York  City  publishes  a  bulletin  in  which  are 
listed  such  rendezvous.  There  are  nearly  a 
hundred  of  them  in  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn 

174 


FITTING  MAN  TO  COMMUNITY 

alone,  and  they  include  Catholic,  Jewish,  and 
negro  organizations,  so  that  neither  a  man's 
faith  nor  his  color  stand  in  the  way  of  a  hos- 
pitable reception.  Nor  are  these  clubs  exclu- 
sively for  American  soldiers  and  sailors ;  a  man 
wearing  the  uniform  of  any  of  the  Allies  is 
equally  welcome. 

Besides  these  lists,  this  bulletin  is  an  in- 
formal guide  to  the  city,  always  informal  and 
sometimes  amusing.  Here  is  an  item  that  is 
characteristic : 

NEW   YORK'S  VILLAGE   GREEN 

"All  roads  lead  to  Rome"  was  true  once;  nowa- 
days all  roads  in  New  York  lead  to  Times  Square 
after  sunset.  Times  Square  is  the  heart  of  our  vil- 
lage, and  everybody  comes  downtown  of  an  evenin' 
after  supper  to  see  what  's  goin'  on.  There  's  really 
quite  a  bit  doin',  and  the  village  green  is  quite  cheer- 
ful-like  of  an  evenin'.  The  square  fills  the  inter- 
section of  Broadway  and  Seventh  Avenue  from  42nd 
to  47th  Streets,  and  has  more  theaters,  hotels,  caba- 
rets, and  such  sprinkled  around  it  than  any  similar 
spot  on  earth,  so  they  say.  It  gets  its  name  from 
the  twenty-six-story  Times  Building,  where  the. 
"Times"  was  formerly  published.  .  .  . 


175 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

Another  paragraph  from  this  hospitable 
booklet  is  headed: 

"EASY  COME,  EASY  GO" 

If  any  one  wants  to  blow  in  some  of  his  thirty  per 
on  rolling  around  town  in  a  taxicab  or  a  hansom,  in- 
stead of  joining  in  the  regular  transit  crush  without 
which  the  real  New  Yorker  would  feel  unhappy,  here 
are  the  rates.  .  .  . 

With  this  book  to  guide  him,  no  soldier  or 
sailor  need  become  lonely  in  New  York.  It 
shows  him  how  to  see  the  sights  of  the  city,  and 
tells  him  where  he  will  be  sure  of  a  welcome. 
It  tells  him  what  the  several  clubs  offer.  Some 
are  better  equipped  than  others,  but  in  all  of 
them  is  found  the  same  "come  right  in"  brand 
of  hospitality.  The  usual  outfit  includes  a 
big  lounging- room,  with  plenty  of  easy-chairs, 
couches  for  those  who  may  wish  for  a  nap,  writ- 
ing-tables for  the  correspondents,  victrolas  and 
a  piano  for  the  musically  inclined,  and  plenty  of 
magazines  and  books.  There  is  usually  a  can- 
teen, where  the  boys  may  get  good  things  to  eat 
and  drink  or  smoke  at  cost,  and  in  some  cases 
less. 

176 


FITTING  MAN  TO  COMMUNITY 

Many  of  the  clubs  offer  billiards  and  pool, 
gynasiums,  shower-baths,  and  even  swimming- 
pools.  At  others  there  is  informal  dancing 
every  evening,  or  French  lessons,  * '  sings, ' '  and 
occasional  entertainments.  Some  of  them  have 
sleeping  accommodations  at  extremely  moder- 
ate rates — a  man  in  uniform  can  get  a  bath  and 
a  night's  lodging  for  as  little  as  twenty-five 
cents. 

So  the  soldier  or  sailor  on  a  short  leave  can 
have  a  mighty  good  time  in  New  York  on  five 
dollars,  even  if  he  does  not  know  a  soul.  The 
War  Camp  Community  Service  not  only  does  its 
best  to  keep  him  out  of  trouble,  but  to  give  him 
a  good  time  as  well.  Uncle  Sam,  working 
through  this  organization,  sees  to  it  that  his 
nephew,  Sammie,  is  properly  taken  care  of. 
He  makes  it  possible  for  the  lonely  fighting  man 
to  mix  with  his  own  social  kind,  to  meet  the  right 
sort  of  women,  and  to  fill  his  free  time  away 
from  camp  in  the  most  agreeable  and  profitable 
manner  possible.  The  same  holds  good  all  over 
the  United  States.  The  civilian  population  of 
every  community  in  the  vicinity  of  a  training 

177 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

camp  has  done  its  utmost  to  make  the  military 
and  naval  men  feel  at  home. 

"Take  a  soldier  home  to  dinner"  was  a  slogan 
for  a  time,  but  now  it  has  become  a  habit. 
Within  five  blocks  of  a  Service  Club  in  New 
York  more  than  three  hundred  enlisted  men 
were  invited  to  private  homes  last  Thanksgiv- 
ing. These  men  not  only  had  a  taste  of  the 
home-cooking  they  had  so  long  been  without, 
but  they  had  what  they  needed  more — home 
thinking  and  home  talking.  "It  sure  does  a 
man  good  to  eat  with  real  folks,"  said  one  of 
the  soldier-guests  at  the  home  of  a  wealthy  pa- 
per-manufacturer. There  is  more  to  this  hos- 
pitality than  the  dinner,  for  usually  some  young 
people  are  invited  in  and  there  is  a  party  worthy 
of  the  name.  The  movement  is  wide-spread. 
A  Chicago  man  entertains  twenty-five  men  every 
Saturday  afternoon.  In  Lawton,  Oklahoma, 
they  have  "block  parties,"  each  city  block  tak- 
ing its  turn  in  entertaining  a  company  of  sol- 
diers. One  Sunday  thirteen  hundred  soldiers 
from  Camp  Mills  were  entertained  at  dinner 
by  the  citizens  of  Forest  Hills,  a  small  commun- 

178 


FITTING  MAN  TO  COMMUNITY 

ity  on  Long  Island.  The  hosts  said  that  they 
especially  wanted  men  who  were  a  long  distance 
from  home  and  who  had  not  had  much  atten- 
tion of  this  kind. 

Time  was  when  a  man  in  uniform  was  not 
welcome  at  public  dances  and  other  gatherings. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  in  cities  where 
there  were  military  posts  or  naval  bases.  In 
Norfolk,  Virginia,  for  instance,  a  sailor  was 
looked  upon  by  many  people  as  a  necessary  evil, 
and  not  as  a  member  of  good  society.  That  was 
before  the  draft,  when,  it  must  be  admitted,  the 
enlisted  men  of  the  navy  did  not  represent  as 
high  an  average  as  they  do  to-day.  Some  of 
them,  in  fact,  when  on  shore  leave  would  let 
loose  their  pent-up  animal  spirits  in  a  manner 
both  distinctive  and  disconcerting  to  ordinary 
citizens. 

To-day  our  sailors  are  being  invited  to  the 
homes  of  the  best  families  in  Norfolk.  There  is 
one  wealthy  resident  who  entertains  from  two 
hundred  to  three  hundred  men  at  his  country 
home  every  Saturday,  and  there  are  any  num- 
ber of  people  who  are  no  less  hospitable  on  a 

179 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

smaller  scale.  A  beautiful  old  colonial  man- 
sion has  been  turned  into  the  Imperial  Recrea- 
tion Club  for  men  in  uniform,  and  there  are 
church-parties  galore.  The  bluejackets  hold  up 
their  heads  in  Norfolk  now,  and  Norfolk  leaves 
the  latch-string  out. 

Other  cities  were  backward  at  first  about  do- 
ing their  bit  for  our  fighters.  The  novelty  of 
the  whole  business  did  not  admit  of  hasty  action. 
There  was  no  precedent  by  which  one  could  de- 
termine how  it  would  work. 

"This  city,"  wrote  a  War  Camp  Community 
Service  man  from  Tacoma,  Washington,  "has 
been  very  slow  in  opening  up  to  the  soldiers,  but 
it  is  open  now.  On  any  Sunday  morning,  if  one 
walks  along  the  uptown  streets,  he  will  see  sol- 
diers issue  from  scores  of  homes  on  the  way  to 
church  with  the  family,  or  on  the  way  to  town 
after  a  night  in  a  home.  I  wish  I  could  tell  you 
about  some  of  the  boys  who  come  to  us  and  ask 
if  we  can  get  them  into  a  home,  and  of  their 
gratitude  after  they  have  been  in  one.  On  Sat- 
urday night  a  young  fellow  came  in  whose 
father  could  buy  half  of  Tacoma.  He  wanted  to 

180 


FITTING  MAN  TO  COMMUNITY 

know  if  I  could  find  him  a  place  in  a  home.  We 
found  the  very  spot  in  a  home  where  they  miss 
their  own  soldier  boy  and  where  the  mother  is 
a  lovely  lady. ' ' 

It  can  be  seen  that  personality  goes  hand 
in  hand  with  efficient  organization.  When  all 
these  little  human  details  are  traced  back  to 
the  Commission  on  Training  Camp  Activities, 
which  represents  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment, one  can  grasp  to  a  fuller  extent  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  movement;  and  when  one  real- 
izes that  it  is  all  a  part  of  the  Government's 
purpose  to  make  better  fighters  now  and  better 
citizens  after  the  war,  he  cannot  but  wonder  at 
the  far-sighted  policy  that  inspired  it. 

That  fact  that  Demosthenes  had  an  impedi- 
ment in  his  speech  is  known  to  many  who  never 
read  one  of  his  orations,  yet  in  overcoming  it  he 
taught  a  lesson  greater,  perhaps,  than  is  con- 
tained in  anything  he  ever  said.  So  it  is  that  in 
the  little  personal  activities  of  the  organizations 
that  are  working  for  the  men  of  our  army  and 
navy  there  are  some  of  the  best  examples  of  the 
spirit  in  which  this  work  is  being  done.  Let  me 

181 


KEEPING  OUB  FIGHTERS  FIT 

illustrate  by  quoting  again  from  the  Tacoma 
letter : 

Yesterday  was  a  typical  day  in  our  office.  We 
visited  a  landlady  who  had  overcharged  the  wife  of 
a  young  soldier  and  recovered  five  dollars.  One  of 
the  military  police  came  in  and  said  that  two  more 
soldiers'  wives  were  to  be  turned  out  by  a  "shyster" 
landlord.  I  went  up  and  put  the  fear  of  the  Com- 
mission into  him.  Another  young  wife  came  in  who 
had  not  had  an  allotment  of  pay  for  some  time.  I 
had  the  Red  Cross  attend  to  her  for  the  moment,  and 
then  looked  up  the  mustering  officer  and  had  her  pay 
allotment  straightened  out.  ...  I  also  arranged  for 
a  couple  to  be  married  at  a  friend's  house.  A  young 
Frenchman  from  San  Francisco  came  in  and  shyly 
asked  if  we  could  send  him  to  a  home  where  there 
was  a  baby,  since  he  had  one  at  home  that  he  had  not 
seen  for  a  long  time.  We  did  so. 

How  do  the  men  react  to  all  this  attention! 
Is  there  not  danger  that  the  rougher  element 
among  them  may  take  advantage  of  the  hospit- 
able attitude  that  is  shown  toward  them  T 

When  New  York  began  to  entertain  the  men 
on  a  large  scale  a  good  deal  of  tact  was  neces- 
sary to  handle  some  of  the  problems  that  in- 
evitably arose.  At  one  of  the  big  dances  an  at- 

182 


FITTING  MAN  TO  COMMUNITY 

tractive  woman  on  the  reception  committee 
noticed  a  soldier  leaning  against  the  wall  and 
looking  rather  lonely  and  miserable.  Catching 
his  eye,  she  smiled  at  him  in  a  frank  and 
friendly  way,  whereupon  a  knowing  look  came 
into  his  face  and  he  winked  at  her  with  deliber- 
ate familiarity. 

"He  has  the  old  idea  of  public  dances,"  she 
said  to  herself;  "I  '11  have  to  set  him  straight." 
So  she  went  over  to  him  and  asked  him  to  join 
her. 

"I  noticed  you  refused  to  dance,"  she  re- 
marked when  he  was  seated  beside  her,  "and  I 
thought  that  possibly  you  were  feeling  lone- 
some. My  youngest  son  is  a  soldier  down  at 
Spartanburg,  and  he  's  just  about  your  age. 
He  gets  terribly  lonesome  sometimes  for  some- 
body to  talk  with." 

"Your  youngest  son!"  the  youth  exclaimed, 
now  thoroughly  abashed.  "Why,  you  're  aw- 
ful old  to  look  so  young." 

A  little  later  she  took  him  over  and  intro- 
duced him  to  her  brother-in-law,  who  had  gen- 
eral charge  of  the  affair  and  who  took  pains  to 

183 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

find  out  what  the  boy  enjoyed  doing.  He  met 
the  hostess 's  niece,  an  attractive  young  girl  who 
insisted  on  his  giving  her  one  dance.  Before 
the  evening  was  over  his  story  came  out.  It  can 
be  summed  up  succinctly  in  two  of  his  sentences : 
"I  'm  tough;  I  'm  awful  tough.  I  ain't  never 
been  used  to  nice  women  treating  me  decent,  and 
I  don't  deserve  it." 

The  woman's  answer  reflects  splendidly  the 
attitude  of  the  Commission  on  Training  Camp 
Activities  toward  this  nation-wide  friendliness 
to  the  uniformed  men. 

"You  are  going  over  to  fight  for  us,"  she  said, 
"and  our  best  is  none  too  good  for  any  of  you." 

It  is  a  matter  of  comment  that  the  churches, 
for  the  most  part,  are  not  using  their  hospitality 
as  an  avenue  by  which  religion  can  be  forced  on 
those  who  accept  it. 

"None  of  us  will  ever  forget  Grace  Church," 
said  a  lad  as  he  took  leave  of  those  who  had 
given  him  and  two  dozen  of  his  companions  a 
luncheon  in  the  parish  house  after  a  sight-see- 
ing trip  around  New  York,  both  of  which  are 
regular  occurrences.  They  had  arrived  after 

184 


FITTING  MAN  TO  COMMUNITY 

service  one  Sunday,  and  they  all  sat  down  to  a 
table  with  some  of  the  church  people.  Most  of 
these  soldiers  and  sailors  were  strangers  to  each 
other  and  were  in  New  York  for  the  first 
time,  but  they  were  soon  chattering  like  bosom 
friends.  Two  brothers  from  the  Pacific  Coast, 
both  sailors,  sat  side  by  side.  They  had  not 
seen  each  other  for  more  than  a  year  until  they 
had  suddenly  come  face  to  face  as  they  were 
starting  out  that  morning.  Near  them  sat  an 
aviation  cadet  and  a  seaman  who  found  that 
they  were  fraternity  brothers  from  the  same 
college. 

When  they  finished  and  the  cigarettes  had 
been  passed  around,  they  were  all  shown  over 
the  wonderful  old  parish  house. 

"I  just  bet  you  one  thing,"  a  soldier  re- 
marked as  he  went  away ; '  *  this  is  n  't  my  denom- 
ination, but  I  'm  coming  down  to  this  church. 
They  've  got  the  right  idea  here,  and  if  all  the 
churches  in  New  York  are  like  this,  we  have  n't 
done  them  justice  out  in  Iowa.  Say,  some  of 
them  in  a  town  where  I  Ve  been  got  a  bunch  of 
us  to  go  to  church,  and  the  preacher  did  n't  do  a 

187 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

thing  but  tell  us  what  would  happen  to  us  if  we 
were  killed  in  battle  and  had  n  't  done  what  he 
said.  Gee!  We  don't  want  that  sort  of  talk. 
I  got  up  and  left." 

The  functions  of  the  War  Camp  Community 
Service  are  almost  without  number.  Drinking- 
fountains  have  been  erected  in  cities  where  for- 
merly there  were  none.  Atlanta,  Georgia,  built 
a  comfort  station  at  a  cost  of  $20,000.  Other 
cities  have  done  the  same.  Money  and  labor 
have  been  given  lavishly  to  keep  our  fighters  fit 
mentally  and  morally,  to  keep  them  from  home- 
sickness and  depression. 

Community  singing  has  played  a  large  part 
in  the  entertainment  program,  for  aside  from 
the  musical  enjoyment  that  is  derived,  it  has  a 
definite  function  in  bringing  the  soldier  and  the 
sailor  in  personal  touch  with  the  townsfolk. 
Official  hosts  and  hostesses  make  introductions, 
and  not  only  do  the  civilians  meet  the  fighting 
men,  but  they  become  acquainted  with  each 
other.  Under  the  leadership  of  the  camp  song- 
coach  they  sing  war  songs,  the  national  hymns, 
and  the  old  familiar  melodies  that  everybody 

188 


FITTING  MAN  TO  COMMUNITY 

knows  and  loves.  At  the  first  ''community 
sing"  attempted  at  Norfolk,  Virginia  there  were 
four  thousand  present.  People  are  talking  yet 
about  the  sing  conducted  by  Harry  Barnhart 
in  Syracuse  during  the  summer  of  1917,  when 
between  five  and  six  thousand  men  sang  the 
"Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic"  with  telling 
effect.  At  the  stadium  of  Drake  University  at 
Des  Moines,  Iowa,  twelve  thousand  people,  civil- 
ians and  soldiers,  accompanied  by  three  military 
bands,  rose  to  their  feet  and  sang  "The  Star 
Spangled  Banner."  These  are  specific  in- 
stances out  of  hundreds.  They  indicate  a  na- 
tion-wide tendency  toward  a  closer  community 
spirit  that  will  endure  as  a  by-product  of  war 
long  after  peace  has  come.  And,  mark  you,  this 
has  been  fostered  by  the  Government. 

Many  of  the  branches  of  the  War  Camp  Com- 
munity Service  in  the  larger  towns  provide  ex- 
cellent vaudeville  shows  for  our  fighting  men. 
One  of  the  largest  of  these,  held  every  Sunday 
afternoon,  takes  place  at  the  big  Forty-Fourth 
Street  Theater  in  New  York.  At  two  o'clock, 
when  the  show  begins,  every  seat  is  filled  by  a 

189 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

man  clad  either  in  olive  drab  or  navy  blue. 
They  wear  their  tickets,  so  to  speak. 

The  talent  at  these  performances  volunteer, 
their  services,  and  take  their  reward  in  ap- 
plause, which  is  generous.  Such  artists  as 
Laurette  Taylor,  who  appears  frequently,  Bil- 
lie  Burke,  and  others  no  less  gifted  are  among 
those  who  have  entertained  these  audiences ;  and 
although  the  programs  are  not  too  "highbrow" 
for  the  average  man  to  enjoy,  they  are  always  of 
a  high  order.  In  the  intermissions  there  is 
singing,  and  sometimes  the  men  join  in  the 
chorus  of  a  song  that  is  sung  from  the  stage. 
It  is  all  very  informal. 

That,  in  fact,  is  the  keynote  of  all  this  work 
outside  the  camps.  The  hours  allowed  for  re- 
laxation are  apt  to  be  misused.  There  are  evil 
forces  at  work  to  undermine  the  morals  and 
health  of  the  men  who  are  to  fight  our  battles. 
The  Commissions  on  Training  Camp  Activities 
have  set  up  competitive  forces  with  which  to 
combat  them,  and  this  is  one  of  them — to  give 
the  men  healthful,  interesting  recreation  while 
they  are  away  from  camp. 

190 


CHAPTER  XI 

A   PROBLEM    AS   OLD   AS    TIME   ITSELF 

THE  prevalence  of  disease  that  results  from 
personal  immorality  has  been  a  problem 
in  hygiene  as  long  as  history  has  been  recorded, 
a  problem  whose  solution  has  always  been  made 
exceedingly  difficult  by  two  things — prudery 
and  politics.  Since  1914  this  constantly  evaded 
problem  has  been  brought  sharply  to  the  front 
because  of  its  vital  bearing  upon  military  effi- 
ciency. The  devastating  influences  of  venereal 
disease  and  alcohol  upon  the  fighting  effective- 
ness of  armies  in  the  past  has  been  demon- 
strated in  a  pitilessly  cold  light  by  the  official 
figures  of  the  bulletless  casualties  of  both 
Entente  and  Teutonic  forces.  Seventy-eight 
thousand  men  at  one  time  were  under  treat- 
ment for  venereal  disease  among  the  troops  of 
one  of  the  nations  of  the  Entente,  while  Hecht, 
the  Viennese  scientist,  estimates  that  in  the  Aus- 

191 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

trian  army  alone  since  the  war  began  the  equiv- 
alent of  sixty  divisions  of  men  have  at  one  time 
or  another  been  on  the  ineffective  list  through 
venereal  disease.  This  runs  the  figures  well 
over  a  million,  and  it  means,  of  course,  simply 
this :  that  these  diseased  men,  incapacitated  be- 
hind the  lines,  have  been  protected  by  the  troops 
in  the  front  trenches  who  have  kept  themselves 
clean.  The  United  States  Government,  upon 
entering  the  war,  was  forced  to  face  the  mili- 
tary aspect  of  the  twin  problem.  It  decided  in 
favor  of  absolute  repression  and  it  has  car- 
ried out  this  radical  and  effective  policy  with 
such  tremendous  success,  it  has  actually  reduced 
to  so  small  an  amount  vice  and  drunkenness  in 
our  army  and  navy,  that  it  is  a  fair  statement 
that  civilian  America  will  have  to  clarify  its 
moral  atmosphere  if  it  is  to  take  back  its  young 
men  after  the  war  to  an  equally  wholesome  en- 
vironment. 

Within  six  weeks  after  America  entered  the 
war  there  was  enacted  into  law  by  Congress  a 
policy  in  regard  to  prostitution  and  the  liquor- 
traffic  in  connection  with  men  in  the  service  that 

192 


A  PROBLEM  AS  OLD  AS  TIME  ITSELF 

was  unique  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Under 
authority  given  by  Sections  12  and  13  of  the 
Selective  Service  Law,  the  President  and  Sec- 
retaries of  War  and  the  Navy  were  empowered 
to  create  zones  around  military  and  naval  es- 
tablishments within  which  houses  of  prostitu- 
tion and  traffic  in  alcoholic  liquor  were  barred. 
Moreover,  everywhere  the  sale  of  liquor  to  sol- 
diers and  sailors  was  forbidden.  The  Secre- 
tary of  War  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
were  not  only  empowered  "to  do  everything 
by  them  deemed  necessary"  to  protect  men  in 
military  training  from  prostitution,  but  they 
were  directed  so  to  do  as  a  war  emergency 
measure. 

"Our  responsibility  in  this  matter  is  not  open 
to  question,"  said  Secretary  of  War  Baker  in 
a  letter  sent  to  the  governors  of  all  the  states. 
"We  cannot  allow  these  young  men,  most  of 
whom  will  have  been  drafted  to  service,  to  be 
surrounded  by  a  vicious  and  demoralizing  en- 
vironment; nor  can  we  leave  anything  undone 
which  will  protect  them  from  unhealthy  influ- 
ences and  crude  forms  of  temptation.  Not  only 

193 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

have  we  an  inescapable  responsibility  in  this 
matter  to  the  families  and  communities  from 
which  these  young  men  are  selected,  but,  from 
the  standpoint  of  our  duty  and  our  determina- 
tion to  create  an  efficient  army,  we  are  bound, 
as  a  military  necessity,  to  do  everything  in  our 
power  to  promote  the  health  and  conserve  the 
vitality  of  the  men  in  the  training  camps.  I 
am  determined  that  our  new  training  camps, 
as  well  as  the  surrounding  zones  within  an  ef- 
fective radius,  shall  not  be  places  of  temptation 
and  peril.  In  short,  our  policy  is  to  be  one  of 
absolute  repression,  and  I  am  confident  that  in 
taking  this  course  the  War  Department  has 
placed  itself  in  line  with  the  best  thought  and 
practise  that  modern  police-experience  has  de- 
veloped. 

"The  War  Department  intends  to  do  its  full 
part  in  these  matters,  but  we  expect  the  co- 
operation and  support  of  the  local  communities. 
If  the  desired  end  cannot  otherwise  be  achieved, 
I  propose  to  move  the  camps  from  those  neigh- 
borhoods in  which  clean  conditions  cannot  be 
secured." 

194 


A  PEOBLEM  AS  OLD  AS  TIME  ITSELF 

Immediately  there  was  thrown  upon  the  War 
and  Navy  Departments  the  burden  of  devising 
ways  and  means  to  carry  out  not  only  the  letter, 
but  the  spirit  of  the  law.  Liquor  and  vice  had 
to  be  repressed  in  the  vicinity  of  camps.  The 
responsibility  was  laid  upon  the  Commissions 
on  Training  Camp  Activities  by  Secretaries 
Baker  and  Daniels,  and  the  program  of  repres- 
sion was  started  forthwith.  Under  the  com- 
mission a  division  of  law  enforcement  was  cre- 
ated, consisting  of  a  staff  of  civilians  and  army 
and  navy  officers,  mostly  lawyers — a  staff  built 
up  under  the  personal  supervision  of  the  chair- 
man. Representatives  of  the  division  were  sta- 
tioned for  duty  in  the  communities  adjacent  to 
the  camps  and  were  ordered  to  keep  the  Secre- 
taries of  War  and  Navy  reliably  informed  of 
moral  conditions,  as  well  as  to  bring  the  pro- 
gram of  the  Government  to  the  attention  of 
local  officials.  Through  the  cooperation  of  the 
Surgeon-General  of  the  Army,  Sanitary  Corps 
officers  were  assigned  to  the  commission  for 
law  enforcement  work  in  connection  with  their 
other  duties  in  the  field,  and  the  Navy  Depart- 

195 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

ment  similarly  made  several  officers  available. 
In  its  first  important  task  of  gathering  full  and 
accurate  information  as  to  actual  conditions  in 
the  neighborhood  of  camps,  the  commission  was 
assisted  by  the  representatives  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Justice,  the  Army  and  Navy  Intelli- 
gence Departments,  as  well  as  the  staffs  of  such 
organizations  as  the  American  Social  Hygiene 
Association,  the  Committee  of  Fourteen  of  New 
York,  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  of  Chicago,  and 
the  Bureau  of  Social  Hygiene  of  New  York. 

It  was  obviously  an  undertaking  that  required 
the  sincere  cooperation  of  hundreds  of  local 
officials  throughout  the  country.  Many  "red 
light"  districts,  some  legalized  and  others  tol- 
erated despite  the  local  law,  were  found  to  ex- 
ist within  the  zones.  Public  opinion  had  con- 
doned their  existence.  At  first,  in  many  in- 
stances the  representatives  of  the  commissions 
were  greeted  with  absolute  astonishment  when 
they  said  that  the  Government  was  determined 
to  have  a  clean  army  and  navy,  and  that  it 
meant  what  it  said.  Despite  the  drastic  char- 
acter of  the  regulations,  the  wide  publicity  given 

196 


them,  and  the  forceful  exposition  of  them  in 
personal  letters  from  the  Secretary  of  War  to 
the  mayors  and  sheriffs  of  the  country,  there 
were  men  in  civil  life  and  in  the  army  who 
could  not  believe  that  the  policy  to  tolerate  the 
ravages  of  deadly  communicable  disease  as  a 
necessary  evil  was  now  to  be  really  changed. 

There  was,  for  instance,  a  certain  city  in  the 
South  near  which  a  military  camp  had  been 
established  by  the  War  Department.  After  in- 
vestigation by  agents  of  the  Commissions  on 
Training  Camp  Activities  the  Secretary  of  War 
wrote  to  the  mayor  of  the  city,  requesting  that 
the  commercialized  vice  that  was  found  to  be 
overrunning  the  town  and  injuring  the  efficiency 
of  the  troops  be  wiped  out  summarily.  With 
something  of  a  touch  of  pride  the  mayor  replied 
that  it  was  impossible  that  his  town  could  be 
the  scene  of  such  conditions.  Indeed,  he  flatly 
denied  the  existence  of  any  such  evil  in  his 
city.  Mr.  Fosdick  thereupon  sent  several 
trained  investigators  to  this  southern  city  and 
from  its  seemingly  pure  confines  gathered  such 
an  exact  set  of  sordid  figures,  together  with 

197 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

convincing  details  such  as  the  brands  of  liquor 
being  sold  in  the  various  vice  dens,  that  the 
mayor,  when  the  report  was  transmitted  to  him 
by  the  Government,  threw  up  his  hands  and 
accepted  enlightenment.  The  city  woke  up.  It 
had  a  big  house-cleaning,  and  it  is  now  a  fit  place 
for  the  men  of  the  army  of  the  United  States 
to  go  when  on  leave. 

Again  and  again  the  representatives  of  the 
commissions  said  to  towns,  "If  you  do  not 
eliminate  your  'red  light'  district,  now  that 
these  facts  have  been  made  known  to  you,  the 
Government  will  be  forced  to  act.  Will  you  be 
a  *  slacker'  town,  or  not?"  Many  officials,  of 
course,  complied  with  the  request  only  because 
they  knew  it  would  be  futile  not  to  do  so.  Some 
opposed  "the  new-fangled  notion."  But  by 
the  end  of  September — less  than  six  months 
after  war  had  been  declared — there  was  not  a 
single  "red  light"  district  within  five  miles  of 
any  important  military  or  naval  training  es- 
tablishment in  the  United  States.  More  than 
twenty-five  had  been  closed.  Gradually  a  bet- 
ter  moral  sentiment  had  been  created.  The 

198 


A  PEOBLEM  AS  OLD  AS  TIME  ITSELF 

old  opinion  that  the  community  must  be  pro- 
tected from  the  soldier  and  sailor  was  gradu- 
ally discarded.  Army  and  navy  regulations 
guaranteed  that  a  soldier  or  sailor  on  liberty 
was  free  from  disease.  The  representatives  of 
the  Surgeon-General's  office  were  responsible 
for  that.  Would  the  community  meet  the  Gov- 
ernment halfway;  would  it  make  such  a  guar- 
antee as  to  its  inhabitants  ? 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  governmental 
mandate  to  communities,  "Here  comes  a  sol- 
dier. Clean  up!"  was  in  the  beginning  looked 
upon  askance,  even  by  some  officers  of  the  army 
itself.  Some  military  men  of  the  "old  school" 
thought  it  not  only  unwise,  but  a  menace  to  the 
liberty  of  the  soldier  to  have  the  "red  light" 
districts  near  camps  closed.  But  these  officers 
were  the  great  exception,  and  not  the  rule.  In 
some  cases  the  investigations  of  the  commis- 
sions have  brought  to  light  the  gross  negligence 
of  civil  servants,  and  the  appeal  has  been  so 
strongly  to  the  patriotism  of  political  constit- 
uents that  occasionally  reform  has  been  hastily 
substituted  by  the  politicians  themselves  to  save 

199 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

their  own  heads!  Sometimes  more  drastic 
methods  were  necessary.  Not  long  ago  the 
Provost  Guards  of  Uncle  Sam's  army — rep- 
resentatives of  the  National  Government — 
paced  the  streets  of  one  of  the  largest  cities  in 
the  country,  where  the  police  force  had  failed 
to  do  its  duty.  Fortunately,  civic  shame  made 
it  necessary  for  them  to  stay  there  only  a  short 
time.  Even  more  drastic  action  was  necessary 
with  a  city  in  the  vicinity  of  a  large  national 
army  camp  in  the  West. 

"Clear  the  street-walkers  from  your  boule- 
vards and  stamp  out  those  dancing-hall  hells 
where  the  boot-leggers  lie  thick,"  warned  the 
commanding  officer  of  the  camp, ' '  or  not  a  man 
of  my  thirty  thousand  will  enter  your  city. ' ' 

The  mayor  and  the  police  of  this  city  thought 
that  the  general  was  bluffing ;  neither  took  posi- 
tive action.  But  the  general  was  not  bluffing. 
True  to  his  word,  he  slapped  an  embargo  on 
that  enterprising  American  city  and  thereby 
gave  the  town  the  shock  of  its  life.  Not  a  sol- 
dier was  permitted  to  enter  the  city.  For  a 
thousand  miles  around  the  papers  laughed  in 

200 


A  PEOBLEM  AS  OLD  AS  TIME  ITSELF 

loud  headlines ;  editorially,  they  jeered.  It  did 
not  take  long  for  the  indignant  citizens  to  get 
together  in  mass-meetings  and  finally  force  the 
municipal  authorities  by  sheer  weight  of  pub- 
lic opinion  to  clean  up  the  town.  Then,  and 
not  until  then,  was  the  embargo  lifted.  And  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  then,  and  not  till  then,  did 
the  people  of  that  city  really  appreciate  that 
we  were  at  war,  that  the  Government  was  fight- 
ing and  that  it  was  not  disposed  to  let  stupidity 
or  any  other  factor  retard  the  efficiency  of  its 
fighting  force. 

Secretary  Daniels  has  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  in  the  American  navy  itself,  during 
the  year  before  war  broke  out,  over  140,000 
working  days  were  lost  because  of  venereal  dis- 
ease. Enough  men  were  daily  incapacitated 
through  the  ravages  of  vice  to  man  a  battle- 
ship. Little  wonder  that  the  Government  will 
not  tolerate  as  obstacles  in  its  path  of  social 
progress  the  negligence  or  short-sightedness  of 
local  officials.  The  war,  as  everyone  knows, 
will  be  won  upon  a  basis  of  man  power,  and 
America  cannot  afford  to  lose  a  single  soldier  or 

201 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

sailor  through  any  cause  that  it  is  humanly 
possible  to  prevent. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  immense  progress  has 
been  made  to  date  in  eliminating  drink  and 
disease  from  the  army.  The  Commissions  on 
Training  Camp  Activities  officially  estimate 
that  the  venereal  disease  rate  has  been  reduced 
fifty  per  cent,  since  the  beginning  of  the  war. 
The  significance  of  this  fact  can  only  be  grasped 
by  considering  that  our  military  strength  has 
been  more  than  trebled  since  1916.  It  is  a 
truth  supported  by  the  records  of  General 
Pershing  and  the  Surgeon-General  of  the 
American  Army  that  the  venereal  disease  rate 
of  our  army  is  far  less  than  that  of  any  of  the 
other  warring  nations.  The  repression  of  vice 
resorts  in  cities  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
camps,  which  was  accomplished  early  in  the 
war-year  under  the  congressional  enactment 
previously  referred  to,  has  developed  into  an 
attempt  at  repression  of  such  places  everywhere 
in  sections  of  the  country  visited  by  our  sol- 
diers and  sailors  in  large  numbers.  The  work 
of  the  commissions,  in  effect,  has  become  one  of 

202 


A  PROBLEM  AS  OLD  AS  TIME  ITSELF 

cleaning  up  the  whole  United  States.  Until 
May  of  this  year  over  seventy  "red  light"  dis- 
tricts had  been  wiped  out.  Forty-five  of  these 
were  not  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  military 
camps,  and  did  not,  therefore  come  within  the 
prohibited  zones  provided  for  by  the  federal 
law.  Their  abolition  was  the  result  of  the  co- 
operation of  state  and  municipal  authorities 
with  the  commissions. 

By  increasingly  stringent  regulation  of  the 
sale  or  gift  of  liquor,  the  Government  has  suc- 
ceeded in  rapidly  diminishing  the  number  of 
boot-leggers,  who  have  thought  that  they  were 
doing  a  service  to  soldiers  by  procuring  liquor 
for  them.  Heavy  fines,  and  often  imprison- 
ment, act  as  a  deterrent  to  the  man  who  violates 
the  federal  law.  In  several  cities  ordinances 
have  been  passed  that  forbid  the  sale  of  al- 
coholic liquors  in  packages.  In  other  cities  a 
similar  result  has  been  reached  through  the 
voluntary  agreement  of  liquor-dealer  associa- 
tions. The  State  of  Texas,  by  special  legisla- 
tive enactment,  has  forbidden  the  sale  of  liquor 
within  a  ten  mile  zone  surrounding  each  mili- 

203 


KEEPING  OUR  FIGHTERS  FIT 

tary  establishment  in  the  state,  with  the  result 
that  boot-legging  has  greatly  decreased.  Cafes 
have  even  refrained  from  serving  liquor  at 
tables  where  soldiers  or  sailors  are  seated,  in 
order  to  prevent  switching  of  drinks.  It  is, 
of  course,  impossible  for  the  Government  to 
guarantee  that  no  soldier  will  ever  be  able  to 
lay  hands  on  a  drink,  but  it  is  proceeding  upon 
the  principle  that  it  will  be  extremely  difficult 
for  him  to  obtain  one.  In  other  words,  the  man 
in  the  service,  if  he  wants  a  drink,  will  have 
to  hunt  for  it. 

In  any  consideration  of  the  problem  of  re- 
pression of  liquor  and  vice  in  the  army  and 
navy,  many  people  will  gain  the  mistaken  idea 
that  the  boys  in  our  service  are  a  lot  of  wild 
animals.  For  a  short  period  last  autumn,  fol- 
lowing the  going  to  camp  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  newly  drafted  men,  the  country 
was  flooded  with  a  wave  of  absurd  stories 
of  immorality  surrounding  the  camps.  These 
baseless  reports  have  never  coincided  with  the 
facts  as  gathered  by  the  men  who  have  lived 
in  the  army  and  navy  communities  during  the 

204 


A  PEOBLEM  AS  OLD  AS  TIME  ITSELF 

past  year.  Dr.  Joseph  H.  Odell,  in  his  admir- 
able book  "The  New  Spirit  of  the  New  Army," 
reports  that  in  the  division  of  twenty-seven 
thousand  men  at  Camp  Hancock,  near  Augusta, 
Georgia,  there  had  been  "but  four  drunk  and 
disorderly  cases  in  six  weeks."  The  various 
commanding  officers  of  the  camps  here  and 
across  the  sea  have  testified  again  and  again  as 
to  the  high  level  of  morality  obtaining  in  our 
military  forces.  Indeed,  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  the  American  Army  and  Navy,  as  they 
prepare  to  cast  the  full  force  of  their  weight 
into  the  struggle  in  Europe,  stand  as  fit  and 
clean  for  the  fight  as  any  military  force  ever 
did,  and  far  more  fit  and  clean  than  most 
modern  armies. 


205 


CHAPTER  XII 

CONCLUSION 

RIGHT  shall  triumph,  and  it  will  be  a  right 
army  that  is  triumphant.  It  will  be  a 
well-trained,  well-disciplined  army  and  navy 
composed  of  men  who  are  physically  and  men- 
tally fit,  men  who  are  brave,  alert,  and  aware 
of  the  justice  of  their  cause. 

They  are  fighting  in  France  to-day.  They 
are  wearing  steel  helmets  that  protect  them 
against  bits  of  flying  shells,  and  they  are  also 
wearing  the  " invisible  armor,"  the  forging  of 
which  Secretary  Baker  began  when  he  sent  Mr. 
Fosdick  to  the  Mexican  border  in  the  summer 
of  1916.  "I  want  them  to  have  an  armor,"  he 
said,  "made  up  of  a  set  of  social  habits  re- 
placing those  of  their  homes  and  communities— 
a  set  of  social  habits  and  a  state  of  social  mind 
born  in  the  training  camps,  a  new  soldier  state 

206 


CONCLUSION 

of  mind;  so  that  when  they  get  overseas  and  are 
removed  from  the  reach  of  our  comforting  and 
restraining  and  helpful  hand,  they  will  have 
gotten  such  a  state  of  habits  as  will  constitute 
a  moral  and  intellectual  armor  for  their  protec- 
tion." 

After  the  smoke  of  the  battle  has  cleared, 
when  there  shall  be  peace  with  honor  and  jus- 
tice, there  will  come  the  great  process  of  read- 
justment. The  men  will  be  mustered  out  and 
returned  to  their  former  tasks.  Those  who  are 
spared — and  may  they  be  many ! — will  be  better 
citizens  than  they  were  before  they  went  in. 
They  will  have  been  graduated  from  "the 
larger  university."  They  will  have  learned 
the  meaning  of  concerted  effort,  obedience, 
loyalty,  cheerfulness,  courage  and  generosity. 
They  will  come  back  with  a  new  set  of  ideals,  as 
men  who  have  been  tried  by  fire  and  found  good 
metal. 

FINIS 


207 


THE  REBUILDING 
OF  EUROPE 

By  DAVID  JAYNE  HILL 

Former   Ambassador  to  Germany 

In  which  this  eminent  jurist  traces  the  development  among  European 
races  of  divergent  philosophical  ideals  of  government  and  their  relation 
to  the  present  world  conflagration.  At  once  a  scholarly  presentation  of 
past  faiths  and  a  brilliant  forecast  of  a  possible  internationalism  which 
may  rise  from  their  ashes. 

Mr.  Hill  points  out  the  gradual  transference  of  sovereignty  from 
state  to  people,  and  its  effect  upon  the  people's  relation  to  the  war.  Not 
since  the  Crusaders  battled  for  the  Christian  faith  has  there  been  waged 
a  war  so  fundamentally  abstract  in  its  goal.  Two  conflicting  philosophic 
principles — imperialism  and  democracy — are  engaged  in  a  life  and  death 
struggle.  With  brilliant  reasoning  and  a  wealth  of  philosophic  authority 
Mr.  Hill  analyzes  the  strength  and  weakness  of  either  cause. 

David  Jayne  Hill,  former  university  professor  and  one  of  the  most 
experienced  American  diplomatists,  writes  out  of  the  fulness  of  intimate 
study  of  the  political  ideals  of  Europe.  He  has  served  as  minister  to 
republican  Switzerland,  and  democratic  Netherlands,  and  as  ambassador 
to  the  German  Empire. 

12mo,  250  pages 
Price  $1.50 

At  All  Bookstores   TOP   PEWTITPY   fO     353  Fourth  Avenue 
Published  by     *  **Ei    CHI  I  1  U IV  I     \AJ»  New  York  City 


AMERICA'S  FOREIGN 
RELATIONS 

By  WILLIS  FLETCHER  JOHNSON 

Author  of  "A  Century  of  Expansion,"  etc. 

A  non-technical,  though  studiously  accurate,  narrative  designed  to 
give  the  average  lay  citizen  a  clear  understanding  of  topics  which  are 
among  the  most  important  and  the  most  neglected  in  all  our  national 
annals. 

A  history  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the  United  States,  the  origin 
and  development  of  our  international  relationships,  and  the  principles 
of  our  international  policy.  The  author  traces  the  developments  pro- 
duced by  our  early  wars,  our  share  in  the  opening  of  the  Orient,  the 
position  of  Europe  towards  our  Civil  War,  our  colonial  expansion,  our 
difficulties  with  British  America,  the  war  with  Spain,  our  various  dealings 
with  Latin  America,  and  every  other  aspect  of  our  international  relation- 
ships to  the  present  day. 

The  New  York  Times  says :  "His  book  is  candid,  impartial,  detailed, 
and  vividly  interesting.  It  is  the  result  of  a  lifetime  of  scholarly  research, 
and  in  its  presentation  has  the  purpose  of  popularity,  in  the  admirable 
sense  of  that  much-abused  word ;  it  has  the  material  and  the  intention 
to  be  of  real  value,  and  it  succeeds  in  its  aim.  The  author  tells  us  not 
only  what  our  foreign  relations  have  been  but  what  manner  of  men 
have  been  intrusted  with  the  shaping  of  those  relations.  We  may  per- 
haps note  that  the  book  is  especially  interesting  in  its  tracing  of  the 
development  of  our  relations  with  Great  Britain." 

Royal  octavo,  two  vols.;  1000  pages, 

with  appendixes,  index,  and 

16  illustrations 


Price  $6.00  net,  boxed 

PublUhedby     tMt    LLINlUKl     LU.  New  York  City 


At  All  Bookstore*    TUC    PpNTIIRY    TO      353  Fourth  Avenue 


AMERICA  AFTER 
THE  WAR 

By  AN  AMERICAN  JURIST 


Must  America  have  a  dictator?  Must  she  annex  Canada,  Mexico, 
Central  America,  the  West  Indies?  Must  she  maintain  a  huge  standing 
army  and  a  powerful  navy?  Tremendous  war-born  changes  are  in 
progress,  and  more  are  to  come.  Alert  Americans  will  begin  preparing 
themselves  now  for  adjustment  or  conflict. 

This  book  is  made  up  of  those  special  articles  contributed  to  The 
New  York  Times  which  drew  excited  comment  from  an  amazed  Europe. 
Far-sighted  American  readers  who  now  have  the  opportunity  of  reading 
them  all  together  and  so  catching  the  full  force  of  the  author's  audacity, 
logic  and  vision  in  one  unified  impression  will  be  even  more  astounded. 

The  author,  who  for  reasons  that  cannot  now  be  revealed,  is  remain- 
ing anonymous,  draws  a  tentative  sketch  of  what  America  will  look  like 
after,  and  as  a  result  of,  the  war.  He  sees  a  great  centralization  of  power 
at  Washington,  with  the  vast  subsidiary  changes  which  that  means  all 
over  the  country.  He  sees  radical  readjustments  with  Mexico,  Canada, 
and  the  West  Indies,  and  the  powerful  Pacific  countries;  a  huge  stand- 
ing army  and  a  great  navy;  possible  financial  stress  and  industrial  unrest; 
a  straining  of  democracy  that  may  not  hold.  No  patriotic  American  can 
afford  to  miss  this  book. 

16mo,    208  page* 
Price  $1.00 

At  All  Bookstores    TVIC    rTWTITDV    ffi      353  Fourth  Avenue 
Published  by     IHL    IXmUKI     \AJ.  New  York  City 


THE  NEW  MAP 
OF  EUROPE 

By  HERBERT  ADAMS  GIBBONS 

Author  of  "The  Now  Map  of  Africa,"  etc. 


Not  prophecy.  Not  propaganda.  Not  ancient  history.  But  an  im- 
partial, dramatic  account  of  the  history  of  the  ten  tremendous  years 
leading  up  to  the  titanic  War  of  the  Ten  Nations.  Shows  the  exact 
bearing  of  each  crisis  and  incident  from  the  Kaiser's  famous  visit  to 
Morocco  in  1905  up  to  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  in  August,  1914. 

As  a  trained  newspaper  correspondent  stationed  for  years  in  the  very 
storm-center  of  Europe,  Mr.  Gibbons  had  unusual  opportunities  to  see 
the  war  in  the  making.  As  a  student  and  professor  of  history,  he  had 
the  scientific  background  and  equipment  for  a  fair  and  clear  interpreta- 
tion of  what  he  saw.  Beginning  to  write  as  the  war  began,  his  narra- 
tive style  inevitably  took  on  the  rushing  swiftness  and  the  thrilling  large- 
ness of  the  colossal  events  then  sweeping  down  upon  the  world. 

Octavo,   412  page*,  6  double  map* 
Price  $2.00 


AtAlI  Book.tore.    TUU     rUMTITDV    Cf\       353  Fourth  Arenue 
PublUhed  by     *  «t    LLW  1  U  R I     IAJ.  New  York  City 


THE  NEW  MAP 
OF  AFRICA 


By  HERBERT  ADAMS  GIBBONS 

Author  of  "The  New  Map  of  Europe,'*  etc. 


This  new  book  does  for  Africa  what  the  author's  immensely  success- 
ful "The  New  Map  of  Europe"  did  for  that  continent — that  is,  it  gives 
the  history,  especially  on  the  diplomatic  side,  of  the  crucial  years  from 
1899  to  the  great  war  as  they  affected  Africa.  Necessarily  the  author 
also  glances  at  African  affairs  before  1899,  as  far  back  as  1850,  and 
considers  the  future  of  that  rich  and  coveted  continent.  "The  New  Map 
of  Africa"  covers  a  field  as  yet  untouched,  in  compact  form,  in  any 
language. 

Africa  offers  to  the  overcrowded,  ambitious,  and  powerful  European 
nations  their  nearest  and  otherwise  most  available  field  of  expansion  and 
commercial  exploitation;  but  the  nations  have  by  no  means  been  agreed 
as  to  who  should  take  what.  The  military  and  diplomatic  movements  of 
the  contesting  countries,  as  recorded  and  interpreted  by  Mr.  Gibbons, 
make  a  book  as  interesting  as  it  is  historically  important 

Octavo,  SSO  pages,  6  map* 
Price  $2.00 

At  All  Bookstore*   Till?    /M7MTITBY   Cf\     353  Fourth  Avenue 
PublUhedby     InL    ILmlml     IAJ.  New  York  City 


RUSSIA  IN 
UPHEAVAL 

By  EDWARD  ALSWORTH  Ross 

Author  of  "South  of  Panama,"  etc. 

Many  writers  have  pictured  Russia  in  the  throes  of  revolution,  but 
there  is  probably  no  living  American  so  well  prepared  as  Professor  Ross 
to  present,  not  only  the  revolution  itself,  but  its  origins  in  the  past  and  its 
probable  results  in  the  future.  The  brilliant  Wisconsin  sociologist,  whose 
previous  books  have  so  inimitably  touched  into  life  the  problems  of 
South  America,  the  Changing  Chinese,  and  our  own  population,  was 
traveling  through  Russia,  with  every  facility  for  the  most  intimate 
observation,  during  the  greater  part  of  Russia's  red  year.  He  visited  not 
only  Petrograd  and  Moscow,  but  also  the  Volga,  the  Caucasus,  Turkestan, 
and  Siberia.  "Russia  in  Upheaval"  is  the  ripe  harvest  of  these  varied 
experiences.  It  discusses  the  Overthrow  of  Autocracy,  the  New  Free- 
dom in  Russia,  Soil  Hunger  and  Land  Redistribution,  Labor  and  Capital 
in  Russia,  the  Casting  Out  of  Vodka,  Russian  Women  and  Their  Outlook, 
the«  Church  and  the  Sects,  the  Cooperative  Movement  in  Russia,  the 
Zemstvos  and  How  They  Built  a  State  Within  a  State,  and  the  Future 
Emigration  from  Russia. 

Octavo,  300  page*,  80  illustrations 
Price  $2.50 

At  All  Bookstores    TUI7    PEMTtTDV    ffl      353  Fourth  ATenu. 
Published  by     I  "£    CLW  1  U  K I     tU.  N.w  York  City 


25086 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  UBRARY  FACILITY 

305  De  Neve  Drive  -  Parking  Lot  17  •  Box  951388 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA  90095-1388 

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